


Fat Scrap 3: Time for Growing Soul Mates

by Some Like It Fat (code87)



Series: Fat Scraps [3]
Category: TiMER (2009)
Genre: Belly Kink, Belly Rubs, Burping, Complicated Relationships, F/M, Fat Characters, Fate & Destiny, Lesbian Characters, Original Character-centric, Planned mutual weight gain, Weight Gain, Weight Gain Kink, bad timing, fictional celebrity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-22
Updated: 2018-05-29
Packaged: 2019-02-18 07:30:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 48,490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13095345
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/code87/pseuds/Some%20Like%20It%20Fat
Summary: Part 3 of my Fat Scraps Series of unfinished works.Contains the kinks listed on this story's tags!Set in the TIMER universe, but contains none of the characters in that movie.Disclaimer: I do not own TIMER, or any of its associated characters. This story is only for fun and entertainment, so please don't sue!One might think that finding out your favorite celebrity was your soul mate would be a good thing. But when that very set of circumstances happens to Chris in the middle of his own TIMER Inc. store, his world is turned upside down. Now Chris struggles to deal with his current relationship, his fat-loving tendencies, corporate and family drama, and a woman named Samantha he knows very little about, who has her own problems, and a secret of her own.





	1. Chapter 1

The nervous couple walked into the store. At first glance, they looked like any ordinary couple. In fact, only about 20% of the people they saw that day knew that they were not. The male, Taylor Stressan, a tall, athletic man with mid length blond hair and blue eyes who played semi-pro football and was in his early 30’s, was not considered special by most people. But the woman who was clinging tightly to his hand thought the world of him. The young woman with long brown hair and green eyes who was in her late 20’s and was holding tightly onto her boyfriend’s hand as if her life depended on it, was a different story, however. Samantha Vantras was an actress. She was not considered an “A list” actress by the general public or to Hollywood producers. But she had a rather sizable and devoted cult following. Many individuals who actually saw her acting in any one of the handful of movies or TV shows she had been a part of (some of which had done well commercially, and some of which had not) became a fan almost instantly. The only thing that really kept her from rising to the top in Hollywood was the fact that she had standards, and there were certain types of roles, like those which denigrated women as sex objects, that Samantha refused to take on. As a result, many TV and movie studios refused to hire her, despite her obvious acting talent, which had made her far more fans than most non A-list actresses had. One of her best talents was her ability to keep cool under pressure. Right now, however, Samantha was nibbling on her lip a little bit, and she was finding it very difficult to hide her nervousness. Also, like her boyfriend, she was far too nervous to talk. Too be honest, as freaked out as she was right now, she was just happy that she wasn’t breaking out into a sweat.

The couple (ignoring the curious glances and gasps coming from a couple of customers who recognized Samantha) entered the crowded TIMER Inc. store, which happened to be the central location for all of the TIMER stores in the greater Los-Angeles area. Samantha’s thoughts drifted back to the reason she was here with her boyfriend today. She honestly couldn’t believe that fate had led them to this place to get timers. For the longest time, neither she, not Taylor had even believed that the computer implants worked. And even after a bunch of her friends found their “ones” with the help of the devices, convincing Samantha that the timers did work, she certainly didn’t think she would ever need one. For most of the five years she and Taylor had been together, including the three years they had been living together, Samantha had been quite happy, and she believed that Taylor had felt the same way. However, she and Taylor had been fighting a lot recently, and it was always about the same subject: marriage. 

Unlike Taylor, who had grown up in a more liberal, although somewhat techno-phobic, household in L.A., and was no longer close with his family, Samantha had grown up being raised by a conservative family in Alabama, and she talked to, and visited, her parents and siblings often. Even after Samantha had moved towards a slightly more liberal set of values after moving to L.A., her upbringing had still influenced her decisions enough that she had been ambivalent about moving in with Taylor. In order to alleviate her concerns, and to keep his girlfriend’s family off his back, Taylor had promised Samantha that he would ask her to marry him if they were still together after a year of living together. That had been 3 years ago. Samantha had tried to be patient with her boyfriend for most of the last two years, reminding herself that it was normal for guys to be nervous about commitment. Besides, she had rationalized, she didn’t want to lose someone she loved so much by starting an argument about something that was, according to Taylor, “just a piece of paper anyway.” But the fact was, that piece of paper mattered to both Samantha and her family, and six months ago, she had decided to confront her boyfriend about not keeping his promise to ask her to marry him. This started a fight that had continued, through various stops and starts, up to the present day.

Finally, in an attempt to quell her fears that Taylor may not be the one for her after all, and to make her boyfriend see that they were meant to be together forever, Samantha had insisted that they should both get timers. Which was why they were at one of the TIMER stores today. One of the staff members greeted the couple in her usual professional manner and led Samantha and Taylor to a private booth where they would get their timers without being watched by curious onlookers. The receptionist directed the couple to the computer kiosk in the room, which they would use to input their personal data. The employee apologized for the delay and said that there was a lot of people getting timers today, so all the Matchmakers were busy. They would have to wait for one of the managers to get off from his lunch break in 10 minutes to do the implantation procedure. Taylor, who didn’t even want to be here, grunted softly in annoyance while Samantha forced a smile, said, “That will be fine.” and nodded nervously as the receptionist left the room.

….5 minutes later.

Chris Bartlett, a man with short, dark brown hair and blue eyes who was in his early 20’s, smiled as he got out of his red convertible while speaking to his girlfriend on the phone. “I really have to get off the phone now, Vanessa! My lunch break is almost over and some of us actually have to work you know!”

Ha, ha. Very funny. Vanessa replied on the other end of the line with a chuckle. She and Chris gave each other a hard time about stuff constantly. But they both knew it was all in jest. It’s not my fault that the music store laid me off and I’m in between jobs, you know! It’s this damn recession. Don’t worry, I’m sure somebody will start to appreciate my music enough to let me record my album someday soon, then you won’t have about my employment prospects anymore. Or maybe… Vanessa slipped into that tone that she always used when she was trying to sound sarcastic because she was really insecure about something. …your One will walk through your store's front door today, and the two of you will run away together, and you won’t need to worry about me anymore at all!

Chris sighed and silently cursed the blank timer that had been on his arm since his 14th birthday, the one his father, an executive on the board of directors for TIMER Inc., had insisted he get. Truth be told, having been raised in a family where both his parents had timers, and having a dad whose company made them, Chris hadn’t really had a problem with getting one of his own at the time. Even after he had seen that his timer was blank after it was implanted, he hadn’t worried too much. After all, he had still been a teenager at the time, and he figured it wouldn’t be too long before his “one” would get her timer as well. But ten years later, she still hadn’t. What made the situation even more frustrating was that his girlfriend, the only girl that he had ever felt truly in love with; the girl that just HAD to be his one, still refused to get her own timer, even though they had been dating for 4 years. Vanessa’s parents were very “old world” and did not approve of certain technological devices, like the timer, and had refused to get her one when she had been in high school. Even though Vanessa was far more open minded then her parents on a lot of issues now, the timer was something she wouldn’t budge on, and Chris really didn’t want to get into an argument about it, or the company he worked for, right now. Instead, he tried to brush his girlfriend’s comment off with a compliment. “I don’t think that’s going to happen, I’m talking to my one right now!”

Awww. That’s so sweet…Gag me! Chris could almost see his girlfriend rolling her eyes and smiling in appreciation at the same time as she said this. Vanessa had never been comfortable with voicing her feelings, but she had a twisted, if somewhat overly acidic, sense of humor that he liked, and she had always been there for Chris when he needed her, so he loved her anyway. “I love you too, Vanessa.” Chris rolled his eyes and told his girlfriend goodbye before hanging up his phone and heading inside his work place. The place was even more of a zoo than usual, and the show floor was filled with dozens of customers. This store was often crowded, which was why he spent a lot of his work time at this particular location. It was also the reason that he always tried to keep his breaks short, so it came as no surprise to the receptionist when he arrived back from his break 2 minutes early. The blond woman still sighed with relief. “Thank goodness you’re here, this place is a mad house today! Oh, and we’ve got a couple back there waiting to get timers. I would have one of the Matchmakers do it, but they are all busy. Would you mind…?”

Chris interrupted the receptionist, the only employee he had that he considered to be a close friend, although they still spoke in a professional manner at work, with a smile. “Of course I’ll do it, Darcy! I’ve been trained to do the implantation procedure after all. Which room are they in, by the way?”

Darcy smiled pleasantly. “Thanks, Chri…I mean, Mr. Bartlett! They’re in room A! Oh, and I didn’t recognize them, but some of the customers were staring at the couple when they went in, and started whispering to each other right afterward! I think one of them might be another celebrity!”

Chris sighed and nodded as he moved towards the back of the store toward room A. Being so close to Hollywood, this location got celebrity clients from time to time, and the novelty of the occurrence had worn off for Chris long ago. Now, in his mind, celebrity clients just meant having to deal with the possibility of tabloid reporters showing up and getting in the way of business, lots of paperwork from lawyers and agents, and non-disclosure agreements that went up to his eyeballs. Still, Chris managed to put a smile back onto his face before he walked into the room to see the customers.

Chris’ jaded attitude was swept away immediately when he saw who was in room. ‘Samantha Vantras!’ At first, Chris couldn’t hide his excitement at meeting one of his favorite actresses (one of the few actors of any gender that he actually enjoyed watching on screen, to be honest) as a goofy grin appeared on his face. Truth be told, Chris had been a fan of her since the beginning of Samantha’s acting career, when she had landed the role of a cybernetic alien who was the prime love interest of the main character in the short lived “Alien Battleship” TV show. From there, Samantha had managed to appear in several different shows and movies that encapsulated many genres, including Sit-coms, Rom-coms, Horror, and of course, Science Fiction. It was Samantha’s work in Sci-Fi (such as the aforementioned Alien Battleship, “Invasion of the Video monsters”, and “Escape from Planet Hell”) which interested Chris most, since he was bit of a sci-fi buff, but he had followed and enjoyed all of the actresses work. However, having been in a few theater productions in high school, Chris had always told himself that his interest in the actress was strictly one of professional appreciation for her obvious talent. After all, pretty as Samantha was, she wasn’t Chris’ usual type. Seeing her up close made Chris reevaluate that opinion, however. The woman in front of him was beautiful on screen, but her perfectly symmetrical facial structure, long, luxurious brown hair that was so dark it was almost black, and eyes that were as green as jade were even more apparent in person, making her look absolutely stunning. Realizing that he had been staring at Samantha for several seconds, Chris quickly tore his eyes away from the customer and put a stoic expression on his face while Samantha blushed. 

Both Chris and Samantha were glad that Taylor had been too busy staring at his shoelaces, apparently deep in thought, to see what had transpired. Chris was glad the boyfriend (the manager actually didn’t know the other man’s name, since he had only followed the shows and movies Samantha had been on, not her personal life) hadn’t seen that moment. He knew it had been unprofessional and rude to stare at a customer, no matter who she was. Besides, he loved Vanessa, and Chris knew his girlfriend would kick his ass if she found out he had looked at another girl that way.

Samantha was also glad Taylor hadn’t seen the manager’s mesmerized gaze for two reasons. One, Taylor could be very territorial with her, or at least, he had been up until several months ago. And two, although she hated to admit it, it had felt good to have someone gaze in admiration at her so intently, which Taylor hadn’t done for over a year, and she didn’t want Taylor to notice this. The actress was relieved when the manager put on a professional facade and turned to the monitor to go over her and Taylor’s info and payment options for their timers. The man even went as far as to pretend not to know who Samantha was, and avoided making eye contact with her as he told the couple how timer implantation worked.

After the couple agreed to get the timers implanted, and laid down on the mattresses used for implantation, Chris opened a vacuum sealed, completely sterile box containing two timers and loaded the first one into the “gun” that would inject it into Taylor’s arm. As Chris was doing this, Taylor noticed that Chris had a timer on his arm just under his long sleeved managerial uniform, although he could not see the numbers, or lack thereof, written on it. The blond man pointed at the timer on Chris’ arm. “You got a timer too. So you really do believe in this stuff, huh? How long until you find you find your…one, or whatever?”

Chris sighed while he checked to make sure the first timer was properly loaded into the gun. “Of course I believe in the timer. Every scientific study that has been done on the timers have proven that they work…as long as you and your one both have timers.” Taylor sighed at this news as Chris continued speaking. “Unfortunately, my timer is still blank, and even though I’m pretty sure I already know who my one is, she refuses to get a timer…so I can’t really know for certain. But enough about me. Are you ready for your implant?”

Taylor turned toward Samantha. “Is this really what you want to do?” Samantha nodded silently. Taylor turned back to Chris. “Do it!”

To his credit, Taylor didn’t even wince when he got his timer put in, much less gasp in pain, as many first time customers did. But the good news apparently ended there, for as soon as the man’s timer was put in, it started counting down. Chris leaned down and examined the numbers on Taylor’s wrist while trying not to look at Samantha. He really hoped neither member of the couple took this news too hard. He really hated it when his job, which was supposed to help people find happiness, ended up making them sad instead, at least for a while. “Well. Good news and bad news. Bad news is, Samantha is not your one. The good news is that your one already has a timer, and you will meet him or her in….”Chris quickly read off Taylor’s timer, ignoring the man's incredulous look when Chris implied his one could be male. “Approximately 31 days. That’s pretty fast.”

Taylor turned toward Samantha with a look of sorrow and regret on his face, and it was only then that Chris allowed himself to notice that Samantha’s eyes were starting to fill with unshed tears. The blond man shook his head. “I really am sorry about this, Samantha. But something kept telling me we weren’t meant for each other and that we shouldn’t get married. But I guess I just wasn’t ready to let you go yet. And for the last six months, I’ve known that there was reason we kept fighting and…I guess I was right to listen to that part of myself. And now that my suspicions that you aren’t my one have been confirmed…. I’m sorry but…I just don’t think we should be in a relationship anymore. But I do hope we can still be friends, that you find your one really soon, and that he can make you happier than I could. You take all the time you need to find a new place to live, okay?”

Samantha just nodded silently while trying to hold back tears. Knowing that his prolonged presence would only make things more awkward, Taylor went to the front to pay for his own timer and leave the building. Thankfully, Taylor and Samantha had had the foresight to come in separate cars in case something like this happened, so the actress wouldn’t have to see her now ex-boyfriend until she decided to go back to their apartment.

Chris looked at Samantha, who was still lying down and was now openly crying, and resisted the inappropriate urge to put his hand on his customer’s shoulder to offer emotional support. Chris cleared his throat while attempting to keep a friendly, happy facade in place. “I’m sorry about that. I really hate to see that happen to some of the couples who come in here.” 

It was the standard company line, but it was always true for Chris when he saw timers split up couples like this. However, it was even more difficult than usual for him to see Samantha’s tears for some reason. Even though he didn’t know the actress personally, she seemed really nice, and he had wanted Taylor to be her one so that she would have a happier outcome for her trip to this TIMER Inc. location. Chris couldn’t help feeling bad for making her cry, as if he was the one who had decided that Taylor wouldn’t be her one, instead of the myriad laws and powers that governed the universe. Chris felt so bad, in fact, that he broke company protocol for the first time ever and actually offered to have her opt out of getting a timer today. He was supposed to assure her getting her own timer would make things better, eventually. But today, it just didn’t feel right to pressure this potential client just to make a sale. “Hey, I really am sorry about how that turned out. I want you to know that I was hoping you two would be each others one so that something like this wouldn’t happen. Like I said, I really don’t like it when my job makes people sad.” 

Samantha just nodded while still silently crying into her right hand, so Chris continued talking. “Look, I’m really not supposed to say this, but you don’t have to get a timer today if you don’t want to. If you just want to go home now, I’ll tell all my employees I gave you my best sales pitch and you just shot me down. It’s up to you.”

Samantha hesitated, then shook her head. “No…I think it would be best if you just go ahead and gave me a timer too. Who knows? Maybe some good can still come out of this day?”

Chris could tell from the tone of Samantha’s voice that she was doubtful that would actually be the case, but he just nodded and loaded the gun with the woman’s timer. After checking to make sure everything was set up correctly and that the timer was functioning properly, Chris readied the gun over the starlet’s arm and looked at Samantha, silently asking her permission to continue. After Samantha nodded again, the franchise owner quickly looked down and injected the implant into the actresses’ arm, causing her to gasp in pain, but only for a second. The new timer immediately made a noise, causing both Chris and Samantha to examine the implant more closely.

Chris and Samantha were both astonished to see that the woman’s newly activated timer had already zeroed out. Neither off them noticed that Chris’ timer, which had been blank for 10 years, had also suddenly hit zero, since the noise from Samantha’s newer timer had been loud enough to mask the sound coming from Chris’ older device. The store owner smiled. “Wow! I’ve never seen it happen that fast before when two people weren’t already looking at each other! It looks like you were right to stick around and get your timer, after all. You are going to meet your one today!” Chris did not see the moment when Samantha first started to smile thinly through her tears, but he did see that smile as he raised his head to congratulate her properly. And that’s when it happened.

Chris and Samantha’s timers chimed loudly and simultaneously as soon as the franchise owner made eye contact with the actress. Samantha’s smile turned into a look of confusion as she stared down at her blinking timer. Chris’ reaction was a little less subtle as he sat as still as a stone in his chair without saying a word. When Samantha finally looked up to see the franchise owner’s stunned reaction to his timer going off, which was all the confirmation she needed that this hadn’t been a setup, she suddenly realized that she was not the only one who was reeling from the simultaneous timer chimes. After another minute had passed, during which Chris had continued to stare vacantly into space without saying a word, Samantha became slightly worried that Chris had slipped into a catatonic state. The woman sat up and looked at the name tag that belonged to the stranger she was supposed to spend the rest of her life with. “Um…Chris? Are you okay? Please say something!”

This seemed to wake Chris up from whatever strange mental haze he had been in, and the man looked at Samantha with an intense look in his eyes for the second time that day. Only this time, the look in the man’s eyes didn’t convey admiration for Samantha’s beauty. Instead, the man’s blue orbs revealed panic in his soul. Stark, barely controlled, panic. Samantha didn’t know it, but for several minutes, all that the franchise owner had been able to think about was his girlfriend, Vanessa. He had been thinking about how all his plans for a life together with the girl he had dated for years, the woman he had planned to ask to marry him a little over a week from now, were now being destroyed. Finally the store manager, who usually made it a point not to curse in even casual conversations with people, spoke the only words that he thought could appropriately convey the severity of his situation. “Holy Shit!”

”I keep meeting all the right people, at all the wrong times. ”  
-excerpt from Shel Silverstein's poem, “Monsters I've Met”


	2. Chapter 2

Samantha jumped off the mattress she had been laying on in the implantation room and stared at Chris, who jumped off the chair he had been setting on and started to clean the implantation gun with his back toward the woman. As the actress watched this man she had just met, who was supposed to be her One, finish cleaning the device and put it in its proper, sterile packaging, she wondered at the words the man had used when he found out she was his “One.” ‘Holy Shit?!’ What is that supposed to mean? Is that a good ‘shit’ or a bad one? Is he excited or mortified? He could barely take his eyes away from me a few minutes ago, and now that he finds out he’s supposed to be my One he won’t even talk to me? What is that about!?”

Finally, Chris began to speak with his back still facing Samantha, breaking the actress away from her thoughts. “I apologize for using profanity. That was rude and unprofessional. Well… that will be $79.95 for the implant and installation.” The store owner reminded her. “It would be another $1.99 per month of activity after that, but apparently, you won’t have to pay that.” 

The man chuckled in that nervous way someone does when they are trying to make light of something that they know isn’t even remotely funny. “You can pay the receptionist at the front. Also, it is company policy that I tell you that since your timer went off simultaneously as that of a TIMER Inc. employee, you have the right to have your timer inspected by corporate to insure that I did not tamper with the device in any way. Not that anyone has successfully been able to do that since the timer upgrades started 11 years ago.” 

Chris handed the stunned woman his business card without meeting her eyes. “This, and the print out of your purchase my good friend Darcy will give you at the front of the store, have all the info you need if you feel you need to make a report to Corporate about today’s procedure. Also, if you feel your timer may be defective, which has never happened since the device was first invented, you can get your timer inspected even if you believe that I did not personally tamper with it. I know I will be getting mine inspected ASAP to make sure these results are accurate, although I’m sure it will be a waste of my time. Now, if we have no other business to discuss, I’m about to have a lot of paperwork to fill out from this incident, so I will go ahead and go, leaving you in the very capable hands of Darcy at the front desk…”

Before Chris could walk out of the room however, Samantha was able to gather her wits together enough to grab the back of the man’s right arm, stopping him in his tracks before unloading several questions onto the suddenly tired looking man. “Wait. Are we not even going to talk about what just happened!? I mean, are the timers are really as foolproof as you said? If so, aren’t we supposed to spend the rest of our lives together!? Doesn’t that mean something to you!? Do you suddenly not like me for some reason, because you seemed to be pretty interested in me a few minutes ago, and now you’re acting like it’s no big deal that we’re supposed to be soul mates, or whatever!?” 

Now Samantha was crying again. She knew she wasn’t handling this situations in a remotely mature fashion, but today’s events were really getting to her. “And I usually don’t like to brag, but most of my male fans, and some of my female ones, I might add, would love to be in your position right now! And I knew you were one of my fans the moment you entered the room and your face lit up when your recognized me, so don’t try to deny it!” At this point, the actress was yelling loud enough that some of the people in the common area of the store could hear her, causing a quiet uproar among a few people there.

Chris sighed and wiggled free of Samantha’s arm, but quickly turned around to face the actress. It was only after he did this that Samantha was able to see the tears in the man’s eyes. “Of course I know who you are, Samantha Vantras. I’ve been following your career since Alien Battleship. I am a very big fan of your work. And I assure you that if the circumstances were different, I would be absolutely thrilled that my timer matched yours but…remember when I said that I thought I knew who my one was? A woman who refused to get a timer? I wasn’t talking about you. I was talking about my girlfriend of 4 years, who I met in college. Her name is Vanessa.”

Chris did that nervous laugh again as he continued his story, causing the actress to become a little worried for the man in front of her, and making her feel bad for having been so hard on him about his reaction to the timer chimes. “You know, I was going to ask her to marry me next week. I had the restaurant picked out and everything! I even scheduled reservations already. And all for nothing, apparently. 4 years down the drain. Just a waste of my time. Or, at least, that’s what my parents would say, but they never liked Vanessa anyway.” 

Samantha put her hand on Chris’s right shoulder to try to comfort him, and herself. “Maybe not. I mean…maybe the timers got it wrong this time!?” The actress couldn’t stop a hopeful note from entering into her voice. “Maybe I really am supposed to be with Taylor, and you are really supposed to be with Vanessa…”

But Chris sadly shook his head and interrupted her. “The timers are NEVER wrong! There are over a hundred different scientific studies that have confirmed this. And even if one timer could be faulty, four of them couldn’t all be wrong at once. I’m sorry...” Chris took a deep breath and continued. “But it’s just not possible! I’m afraid your relationship with Taylor and my relationship with Vanessa were equally doomed from the start, no matter how much we may love them.” 

Samantha nodded and closed her eyes, willing herself not to cry again and to accept the situation, before opening them while wearing a stone face this time. “So what do we do now?”

Chris sighed. “We aren’t going to do anything. You will have to pay at the front desk. I am going to go excuse myself to go home, fill out some necessary paper work, and meet Vanessa for our already scheduled date tonight while simultaneously trying to forget the events of today ever happened. I really hope you don’t take that personally. But I still love Vanessa. So...”

Samantha sighed in exasperation as Chris started to leave the room again. “I don’t understand. I get that you still love Vanessa, but if everything you told me is true, isn’t your relationship with her doomed to fail? Why would you want to draw that process out when the person you are supposed to spend your life with is right here in this room with you!?” It wasn’t as if the actress liked the outcome of today’s events, but she couldn’t understand why Chris was trying to fight something that he himself said was inevitable.

Chris paused for only an instant before replying. “What you say is true, but I simply love Vanessa too much to let her go yet. I can’t leave her now, no matter how logical it would be to do so. So call me a fool if you want, because I plan to continue riding out my relationship with Vanessa until it ends on its own. Even if that ship was built to wreck. It’s certain we’ll meet again someday, but for today, this is goodbye. I’m sorry.” 

The store owner left Samantha with these words as he walked out of room A towards the center of the store leaving the woman with a profound sense of sadness for both Chris and herself. She pitied Chris, since he had been forced to realize his own relationship was a doomed one, but she pitied herself as well. After all, she, Samantha Vantras, had just been rejected twice in one day. Once by her now ex-boyfriend, and once by some man she didn’t even know, who would be her husband someday, but who was not ready to face a future with her yet. Samantha noted that she had a lot to think about as she headed toward the front of the store to pay her bill.  
….

The next two weeks were an absolute whirlwind for Samantha, as word inevitably got out that she had gotten a timer, and that it had gone off at the same time as the one that belonged to Chris, who Samantha learned from the tabloids had a last name of “Bartlett”. She also learned that Chris was the franchise owner of every TIMER Inc. store in the greater L.A. area, and that his dad was on the board of directors for the company. Samantha had her timer inspected in a TIMER Inc. location over 100 miles from L.A., and learned that Chris had done the same for his timer, but as the store owner had predicted, neither of their timers were flawed or had been tampered with. This news made Samantha determined to find Chris, who she had been told was on a “temporary leave of absence” from his job, and talk to him again, but she had a lot of other things she had to deal with first. The first major order of business was moving out her apartment with Taylor, which seemed much more cramped now that her ex had broken up with her, and moving to a hotel until she could find her own place. She did all of this with the help of her agent and friend Sophia while dodging paparazzi, who suddenly were much more interested in the star than they had been throughout the rest of her career. 

Things did not get much quieter after the move, although the fact that the press had not yet found her new place made it slightly easier for Samantha to stay away from the public eye. But her fan site was suddenly exploding with more activity than she could keep up with. Some of the messages were congratulatory, while other fans were disappointed that Samantha was suddenly “off the market” for good. One good side of all this media exposure was that more directors and producers were noticing Samantha. She had received several job offers before she finally agreed to play the female lead in a Hollywood musical set in 1920’s New York, and subsequently nailed the audition. Between that job and the sci-fi TV show she was currently working on, Samantha hoped she would be busy for the foreseeable future. Unfortunately, her increased fame had its downsides as well. It wasn’t long before the actress found out that the press had started hounding Chris less than 24 hours after the timer incident had occurred. It had apparently gotten so bad that the man had fled his house and started living at an unknown location.

One day, finally deciding that she couldn’t take being cooped up in a hotel while in between shoots anymore, Samantha snuck out of the room and got into the cab she had phoned for, which took her to the TIMER Inc. location she had meet Chris at. The store owner had apparently gotten his phone numbers changed to avoid being hassled by the press, as both numbers on his business card had been disconnected. But the actress had noted the last time she had been to this location that Chris has said that he and the receptionist, Darcy, were friends. It was possible that the receptionist knew where Chris was. Deciding it was worth a shot, Samantha entered the store, ignoring the onlookers who were staring at her (a much greater number than last time), except for Darcy, who looked as shocked as everyone else to see Samantha here. Sighing, Samantha just decided to straight up ask if Darcy knew where Chris was living now, since she “had to see him about something the timer he had installed had done.” Apparently guessing what Samantha was up to, Darcy had winked at the actress and wrote an address down on a small piece of paper, which she made sure not to let anyone else see, before Samantha took it and thanked the receptionist with a smile.

After the taxi took her to the written address in a glamorous part of town that Samantha had only been to once in a meeting with a high powered production executive, the woman finally found the house that matched the address. Only it wasn’t a house. It was more like a four story mansion, and it was much bigger than Chris’ one story home, which Samantha had seen a picture of on the news. Finally, the actress worked up the courage to walk up to the door and ring the doorbell. After waiting almost a minute and wondering whether she should leave and come back later, a man cautiously opened up the door to greet her.

Samantha gasped when she saw that the man was Chris, but he didn’t look the same as the day she had meet him at all. Despite the fact that the man was clean-shaven, appeared to be well groomed, and that he was dressed in khaki’s and a collared shirt that probably cost quite a bit, he looked like absolute hell. The man had dark circles around his eyes and his skin was pale. Even so, the grim looking man did manage a small smile towards the woman at the door. “Hello, Miss Vantras.” After hesitating several seconds, the man added. “Um, do you want to come in?”

Samantha just nodded and followed the man into the luxurious dwelling space as her mind continued to fill with questions, like how Chris could afford a place like this, and what had happened to him to make him look so ragged. The actress had the sinking feeling that the answer to that last question had more than a little to do with her unintentional intrusion into Chris’ life. In any case, Samantha was determined to find the answers to these and other questions as she entered the mansion. She just hoped Chris would be forthcoming with those answers.


	3. Chapter 3

Chris lead Samantha to the spacious living room of the mansion, which contained 3 sofas and several love seats, as well as a huge coffee table and a large entertainment center, complete with a Blue Ray player, cable box, 4 large speakers, and one of the biggest widescreen TVs that she had ever seen. The dark haired woman marveled at the spacious room and the man motioned toward all of the coaches in said room. “Take a seat wherever you like. I’m going to the kitchen to get a soda. Do you want anything?”

The actress nodded as she sat on one of the love seats and replied. “A glass of water would be great. Thanks!”

The store owner nodded and went to get the drinks from the kitchen, which was opened up to the living room via an open doorway and through the empty space between one of the kitchen counters and the ceiling. After the man had gotten a soda out of the fridge, but before he could get the actress a water, he heard said woman laugh and looked up to see what was so funny. He was mortified to discover that it was Samantha herself. Or more accurately…her TV character from Alien Battleship, Querethan, whose image was now paused frozen and staring back at the actress who had played her, who was currently sitting on the living room couch. Chris mentally slapped himself, for he had been so taken aback by Samantha’s appearance at this location that he had forgotten to turn off the old episode of Alien Battleship when he had paused the show to answer the door.

At the time, Chris had been in the middle of his third “Samantha Vantras” marathon of TV shows and movies that he had undertaken since the timer incident, as the man repeatedly wondered how the woman he had idolized since he was a teenager could be his “One”. Chris just hoped Samantha didn’t look at the stack of DVD’s situated on the floor next to the T.V, which was composed entirely of movies and shows she had worked on. After bringing the drinks into the room and setting them on the coffee table in front of Samantha, Chris nervously fumbled with the universal remote he had left on one of the couches and turned the Blue Ray player and TV off. Chris laughed. “Sorry about that, I guess I was just watching one of your previous work to…I don’t know…try to get some perspective about everything that’s happened these past two weeks. I didn’t mean to freak you out or anything.”

Samantha shook her head. “That’s okay. I don’t mind people watching my work in front of me. I’m an actress, it sort of comes with the territory. I was laughing because the outfits they made me wear in that show were absolutely ridiculous! Like that one made of orange suction cups and a red wool blanket that we just saw on the screen. Do you know it took the costume guys almost 2 hours to get me into that thing?! And all that just to make me look like some horrendous looking fool just because my character was an alien!”

Chris shook his head. “I disagree. If that was there intention, they failed miserably. You looked great in all of those outfits, even if the clothes themselves were ridiculous. Of course, they would have been hard pressed to make you…” Chris blushed and stopped talking as he realized what he had been about to say.

However, as the man sat down in the chair to Samantha’s right, the actress urged him to continue his thought. “What? What were you about to say? Hard pressed to make me…?”

Chris sighed and blushed some more, but a smile appeared on his face shortly thereafter. “Ugly. They would have been hard pressed to make you look ugly when you are so beautiful.”

Now it was Samantha’s turn to blush. “Thank you. I’m glad you think so, considering our…situation. But won’t your girlfriend be mad that you said something like that to me? In fact, now that I stop to think about it, won’t she be angry you even let me in your house!?”

Chris smile immediately vanished after Vanessa was mentioned, and Samantha noticed he didn’t initially answer her questions. “Well, first of all, this isn’t actually my house. I do have my own place, but I had to get out of there because I kept getting harassed by reporters and some of your more…interesting fans. Some of them wanted to congratulate me for…” Chris made air quotes with his fingers. “Landing a smoking hot girl like you.” among other, less polite adjectives.” Chris put his fingers down. “Actually, most of your fans were pretty nice about the whole thing, but a couple of them actually threatened my life because they wanted to be your One instead of me.”

Samantha looked mortified as she put head in her right hand, hiding her face from view. “I am so sorry…”

Chris cut off the actress quickly, however. “Don’t you dare apologize. You aren’t responsible for your fans, or for anything that has happened since our timers went off. Besides, I was forced to take some paid time off after corporate decided to investigate what happened that day, anyway. Obviously, I was cleared of any suspicion of wrongdoing very quickly. But Corporate…and by Corporate I mean my father, who is on the board of directors for TIMER Inc., told me to keep away from any of my job sites until all of this public attention to my person wears off a bit. In the meantime, he, Arnold Bartlett, set me up in one of his and my mom’s vacation homes, which they have gone to great lengths to keep hidden from the public eye. That is where we are now.”

Chris sighed. “Almost 2 years of finally being out from underneath financial dependence on my parents, and at the first major crisis since then, I’m reduced to living in one of their houses again. I know they only give me stuff because they love me but…” Chris decided not to finish his thought and said something else instead.

“Look, I’m sorry that I had to disconnect those phone numbers I gave you, but the press and your fans kept harassing me via phone, so I didn’t have much of a choice. But I know it made it much harder for you to contact me. I’ll give you my private cell number, which I haven't give you yet, before you leave today, if you want it. That reminds me. How did you find this place anyway?”

Samantha’s only response was to look down at her feet and mumble that she couldn’t tell Chris that. But the man was smart enough to figure it out anyway. “That’s okay. You don’t have to tell me. It had to have been Darcy who told you. She’s the only one outside of my parents and myself who knew I was here. I really should be mad at her for telling you that secret but…I honestly did want to see you again at some point. Oh, I should warn you. My parents are flying into town tomorrow to see me and…they want to meet you. I told them that would be up to you, especially since I hadn't even seen you since our timers went off, but…my father is the kind of man who is used to getting the things he wants. He’s friendly enough most of the time, but he doesn’t really take no for an answer. I just thought I’d let you know that he and my mom, Mary, will probably try to see you while they are here. It wasn’t my idea, but I apologize in advance on their behalf. “

Samantha shrugged and chuckled nervously. “Parents. What can you do, right?! Honestly, I’m sure my folks will want to meet you at some point as well. And I should warn you, my father is every bit as protective of me as your dad is controlling. So the amount of scrutiny we will each have to go through should be about even in the end.”

Chris laughed nervously as well. “It sounds like it. That’s fair enough, I suppose.”

Samantha frowned. “I notice you didn’t answer my questions about your girlfriend. I can’t imagine she is very happy about all this.”

Chris replied with a frown of his own. “She wasn’t, the last time I saw her, two weeks ago. And Vanessa isn’t my girlfriend anymore. We broke up.”

Samantha blinked in surprise before a genuine look of concern passed over her features. “Oh. I’m sorry to hear that.”

Chris nodded sadly. “I’m sorry too. I still love her. I think a part of me always will, but I’m hoping that in time, my feelings for her will turn into a platonic kind of love, you know? She really is a great person, but….I guess we just weren’t meant to be.”

Samantha nodded in understanding. “That’s kind of how I feel about Taylor now. You’ve already met him. I haven’t been able to see what Vanessa looks like though. I hope I’m not prying, but I was just wondering if you could show me what she…”But Chris was already ahead of Samantha, and he handed her his phone, which had a photo of Vanessa on it that he had opened up from his picture gallery, before the actress could complete her sentence. “Thank you.”

After Samantha had looked at the photo of his ex, a young woman with blond hair, eyes that were so dark they almost looked like obsidian, and just enough freckles on her face to add character to her profile without distracting from her smile, Chris responded to the surprised look on the actress’ face. Before the woman in front of him, who was obviously trying to find a way to voice what was on her mind in a polite fashion, could say anything, however, Chris beat her to it. “Yes. I know she is a bit voluptuous…” Actually, at 5’0 and 250 lbs. Vanessa was far more than “voluptuous”, she was downright fat, but Chris didn’t really want to dwell on that point. “But I’ve honestly never minded that in a woman. Don’t worry though. I don’t consider it to be a requirement or anything. I find you very attractive as well.”

Samantha chuckled nervously at Chris’s joke, not knowing that it had a serious edge to it. Truthfully, Chris usually preferred the look of a larger woman, and thin girls generally didn’t catch his interest much. Samantha appeared to be the only exception to this rule, as she was, by far, the skinniest woman that he had ever been physically attracted to, although he had some thin female friends. There was just something about Samantha, some “X factor” that made her visually appealing to Chris despite the fact that she was much skinnier than any girl he had ever dated. Chris tried to push that thought out of his head as the actress finally responded to what he had just said. “Well, that’s good. I’m definitely not as…um…voluptuous as Vanessa!”

Chris nodded awkwardly as he realized how bizarre his last sentence had sounded when it had come out of his mouth. Thankfully, Samantha took one look at Chris’ nervous face and took the situation in stride. “Don’t worry! I don’t think it’s weird. I actually think it’s nice that my One is a guy who can see beauty in a variety of shapes and sizes. You are much more open minded in that regard than most men I’ve met!” Chris didn’t really have the heart to correct Samantha, so he just smiled and nodded as the actress continued speaking. “Um…I hope you don’t mind me asking, but how did you realize you needed to break up with Vanessa? Did you figure out you needed to end things right after you left the store that day or…”

Chris sighed and put his head in his hands. “Actually, I didn’t break up with her, she broke up with me. It happened later that night, the day the two of us meet…”

Two weeks ago…

Chris waited nervously at his and Vanessa’s usual table at their favorite Mexican restaurant, and the man couldn’t help but think that, no matter how the upcoming conversation with his girlfriend turned out, this probably would not be one of their favorite restaurants by the time the night was over. After Vanessa arrived several minutes late, as the woman often did, Chris got his girlfriend’s chair out for her before the couple ordered drinks and Vanessa ordered a large appetizer of nachos loaded with beans, cheese, meat, and various other toppings, as usual. Chris decided to wait until Vanessa had some food in front of her before telling her what had happened that day. Vanessa deserved to know his timer had gone off, but Chris didn’t want to tell her until she was already eating. Vanessa was always happier, and took bad news easier, when she was eating. After the appetizer had come out and Vanessa was halfway through her large plate of food, Chris decided to just come out and say what he had to say. “Vanessa…my timer went off at work today. With a woman whose timer I implanted myself.” He added lamely.

The heavyset woman immediately put down the chip she had been munching on and glared at her boyfriend, but Chris saw that she looked like she was about to start crying under her facade of toughness and anger. “Is this a joke!? Because if it is, it isn’t funny, and so help me I will…”

Chris sighed and interrupted Vanessa. “No, it isn’t a joke. But look, I decided don’t care about what the timer says. I’m still in love with you and I think we could still try to make it work.”

Vanessa held up her hand. “Save it! You’ve told me yourself, multiple times: The timer is ALWAYS right! If your timer went off with someone else, that means you are supposed to be with her, not me! So we might as well just end things now before our relationship goes bad and turns into something ugly!”

Chris shook his head in confusion. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “But…I’m still in love with you! Besides, I thought you didn’t even believe in the timer?!”

Vanessa shook her head and laughed darkly as tears began to fall down her face. “I never said I didn’t believe they worked! I’m not stupid, I know they do…I just….didn’t want to have one, and I wish you didn’t have one either. And to tell you the truth, the only reason I refused to get one after we started dating was that I was afraid that I wouldn’t be your One! And it looks like I was right to be afraid!” Vanessa was pretty much bawling at this point as she continued speaking. “And now that I know that, I can’t allow you to make yourself miserable by continuing to pursue a doomed relationship with me. I’m sorry, but I…I can’t let you do that to yourself on my account! “  
Before Chris could respond, Vanessa pushed her half eaten appetizer plate, which she had always finished before eating a large meal (and sometimes desert as well) on every other excursion to this restaurant, away , before adding. “I’m not hungry anymore.”

The woman stood up from her chair and started to waddle toward the door, before she suddenly turned around, took Chris’s head in her hands and kissed him passionately on the lips for the last time. Chris let himself get lost in the kiss for the several seconds it lasted before his now ex-girlfriend pulled away and made one last revelation known to her ex before walking out the door and out of his life. “This is goodbye. But before I go…I need you to know something. I love you. I know I never said that out loud before, because I was afraid it would hurt too much if you broke up with me after I admitted that to you. But I want you to know that I’ve loved you ever since the first day we met out behind the bleachers during that football game. I just didn’t want to leave without letting you know I cared. Goodbye.” And with that, Vanessa stormed out of the restaurant as fast as her chubby legs could carry her with her thighs rubbing together, while Chris, for once, did not watch her large ass shake in time with each footstep.

Chris just sat there in stunned silence for several minutes, ignoring the large number of onlookers in the restaurant who had witnessed the spectacle that had just occurred and were now staring at him, until he was able to gather enough of his wits together to pay the check and leave. As Chris exited the Mexican restaurant, he realized that his life would never be the same again.

…back to the present.

“Wow.” Was all that Samantha could think to say after she heard about Chris’ breakup. “So you are telling me that this girl you had been with for four years, who had been in love with you all of that time, was too insecure to tell you she loved you until she broke up with you?! That is just…too complex for me!”

Chris nodded. “Tell me about it. I’m still trying to wrap my head around everything that happened that day. But do you know what thought has really been getting to me? Vanessa didn’t want to break up with me until my timer went off. And I’m assuming you and Taylor didn’t want to break up until your visit to my TIMER Inc. store that day?” Samantha just nodded. “So what I’m wondering is: if the timers hadn’t ever existed, would we still be with those people, could we have had futures with them, or would we have been destined to break up anyway? I know the timers work, but I’m starting to wonder if they just predict the future…or if they make it happen.” Samantha just shrugged. The actress obviously didn’t have any answer to give on that front. Chris hadn’t really expected one. The store owner stood up and got out of his chair. “I’ve made a decision. I like you, or at least I like what I’ve seen of you so far, but I don’t really know you yet, and I’m definitely not ready to start another relationship right now. How about you?”

Samantha nodded slowly. “Yeah. I guess that about sums things up for me too. But I definitely like you so far, and I did want to spend time with you and get to know you if we are supposed to be each other’s one someday.”

Chris smiled. “My thoughts exactly. So, on that note, I think we should just start out as friends and let things progress naturally from there. What do you think?” The young man extended his hand toward Samantha, who was now standing as well. “Friends?”

Samantha smiled and shook Chris’ hand. “Yes. Definitely. Friends!”


	4. Chapter 4

Afterwards, Chris and Samantha both decided that, since they were going to try to be friends before advancing into some other kind of relationship, it might be best for them to spend most of their time together in the company of others…at least for now. Besides, Samantha thought it would be a good idea for her and Chris to get to know each other’s friends anyway, if they were going to be spending each other’s lives together some day. Chris agreed with Samantha on this, and soon each of them was calling their peers via cellphone to see who could hang out with them tonight, although both Samantha and Chris knew they would all have to keep a low profile. All of Chris’ friends, Adam, Nick, Jake, Simon, and of course, Darcy, were down to do something, as were three of Samantha’s friends, Allison, Sophia and Clarissa. It then took about 10 minutes for all of them to coordinate which activity they wanted to engage in. Surprisingly, Samantha and Chris both liked many of the same leisure activities, but their two groups of friends had a hard time picking from the list of activities both members of the “pre-couple” enjoyed. First, Chris’ friends suggested mini- golf, which was fine with everyone but Allison, who was banned from the closest miniature golf course because she had accidentally hit the manager over the head with a golf ball once…hard. Samantha’s friends then suggested bowling as an option, but Darcy nixed that because she hated how bowling shoes felt on her feet. One by one, movies, video games, soccer, basketball, and various other activities were taken off the list until Darcy suggested an activity that made Chris and Samantha simultaneously smile: laser tag.  
….  
Within another half hour, everybody was at Lazer Danger: which was one of the lesser known laser tag locations in L.A., so the group didn’t need to bother with reservations. But there would be a bit of wait to get inside the arena after teams were chosen. Both Chris and Samantha were used to playing with their own friends on their teams, but since the numbers were uneven, Darcy volunteered to play on the same team as the other girls. Chris chuckled. “I guess that’s only fair. It’s the only way you other girls will even have a chance. She’s the second best player on my team after all.”

Darcy rolled her eyes. Samantha crossed her arms and smirked, although she could already tell that Chris’ boasting was only in jest. Two could play at that game. “Well, I’ll have you know that my girls and I are very good at this game. You are going down!” Chris just shrugged as he and his friends, minus Darcy, prepared to leave to get their blasters and vests in the blue team room, but Samantha added a question first. “Who’s the best player on your team, by the way?” Chris turned around just long enough for her to see the giant smirk on his face before he headed into his team’s ready room. Samantha rolled her eyes in mock annoyance at Chris’ lack of modesty and laughed.

….a couple minutes later.

Samantha and the other girls were waiting in the ready room with red vests on and blasters ready before their match began in several minutes. Having already come up with a strategy for the coming match, Samantha and her friends had begun making small talk, but the starlet noticed that Darcy was standing in the corner of the room, apparently unsure how to break into the conversation. Samantha was not the kind of person who liked to see others get “left out”, so she quickly excused herself from her usual gang to go talk to Darcy. “Hey, I wanted to thank you for telling me where Chris was today. I’m really glad I got to talk to him so that I could get the chance to get to know him.”

Darcy smiled. “Don’t mention it. I actually figured I would be doing my friend a favor by sending him to you. I remember when we were in high school, when Alien Battleship first came out, and he wouldn’t stop talking about it. And now I find out (and I’m sorry I didn’t know this before, but I’m not a sci-fi buff myself) he actually has a matching TIMER with one of the actresses from that show! Yeah, no way was I going to let Chris miss out on that just because he was hiding out from some weirdos and the press!”

Samantha blushed. “Yeah, I guess not. So, you’ve known Chris since high school? How did you two meet?”

Darcy chuckled. “We actually dated our Junior and Senior years. He asked me out to winter formal our Junior year, I said yes, and things just sort of progressed from there. It was never serious, though. We both had timers. Mine was running out, his wasn’t, so we knew it wouldn’t go anywhere. We were just comfortable around each other and we both wanted to get some dating experience before we found our respective ‘Ones’. Anyway, we broke up, amicably, about a week before he went off to college, because I was supposed to meet my one a month later, which I did. I believe you’ve already met Adam.” Samantha did remember the blond haired, green eyed young man who Chris had introduced her to as one of his friends. But the lobby had been so noisy at the time Samantha had missed out on some pertinent info from that conversation, like Adam being Darcy’s boyfriend. The blond girl continued. “Anyway, Chris and I decided to stay friends and keep in touch, he hired me at one of his stores, and the rest is history.” 

Darcy did a quick once over at Samantha’s body and shook her head in confusion, causing the actress to become a little nervous and confused by the slightly younger woman’s behavior before the blond resumed speaking. “Look. Please don’t take this the wrong way. You are a total knockout and Chris is very lucky, and don’t `you ever let him forget it.” Samantha managed not to blush this time as Darcy kept talking. “But I’m kind of surprised you are his one. You aren’t his usual type.”

Samantha frowned. “What do you mean? Because I’m famous?”

Darcy chuckled. “No. Because you are thin. Chris is…and I know he hates this term, but…Chris is a chubby chaser. Well, he prefers the term ‘fat admirer’.”

Samantha shook her head in confusion. “That doesn’t make any sense. I mean, I know Vanessa is a... full figured woman, but I’m not. And neither are you. Plus, Chris already told me he found me attractive so…”

Darcy held up her hand. “And I’m sure he was telling the truth. His left eye wasn’t twitching uncontrollably when he told you that though, was it?”

“No.”

“Then he was definitely telling the truth. He left eye always twitches as fast as lightning when he lies. He’s really bad at it, and he usually prefers to tell the truth anyway. It’s just odd. You don’t fit the usual pattern of the kind of girl Chris finds attractive. And for the record, I’ve lost a lot of weight since Chris and I dated. Over a hundred pounds. I was quite the fatty back then, and Chris was more than happy to help me get all the food I wanted so that I could stay that way. There were compensations for that, though. Like the fact that I was still fat when I met and started dating Adam, so that I could find out that my One loves me for who I am on the inside; before I lost weight. Anyway, everybody’s just been really cool about the whole thing, and Chris and Adam are actually really good friends now. I wouldn’t worry about it too much. Oh, and one more thing, to my friend’s credit…”

Darcy leaned toward Samantha to conspiratorially whisper something into the celeb’s ear. “Chris is REALLY good in bed! Just don’t let him know I said that or his ego will balloon like crazy and Adam will be mad at me, okay?”

Samantha could only nod and enter the arena as the buzzer sounded, since she was struck speechless by the revelations about Chris that had just been bestowed upon her by one of his best friends, who happened to be the man’s ex-girlfriend. She and Chris would certainly need to talk about some things soon.

…After the match.

Samantha’s already excellent team, bolstered by Darcy’s help, managed to defeat Chris and his previously undefeated team of laser warriors. Blue team had still put on an excellent showing, however, and Chris had actually had the highest individual score in the match. In the end, Red team had only won by three hits. Although her team had won the game, Samantha had to admit, Chris and his friends were really good at this. 

Out in the parking lot, everyone said their goodbyes to one another and started driving off one by one. It was only after the last of her friends had driven off that Samantha realized that she had left her purse in the building. Grateful that Chris was still present, Samantha asked him to wait for her in the parking lot while she left to get it, which the dark haired man was more than happy to do. After retrieving her purse, Samantha returned to a parking lot that was now empty, save for Chris and herself, as well as their respective vehicles. After saying goodbye to Chris, Samantha got in her car, put her keys in the ignition and…nothing. Just the sound of the engine revving and failing to start. After several more attempts, Samantha put her head in her hands in frustration. She had been having a lot of problems with her red Ford truck, which she had picked up at the hotel before going to laser tag, lately, and it seemed the piece of machinery had given out again. Thankfully, Chris had been waiting for her to drive away before he left for the summer house, and he volunteered to help when he saw Samantha was in distress. Unfortunately, trying to jump-start Samantha’s vehicle did nothing, and neither she nor Chris knew much about auto mechanics. So, instead of trying to fix something he knew nothing about, Chris had offered to bring the actress to her place, and a tow truck would be called for her vehicle in the morning.

And so it was that Chris and Samantha found themselves in Chris’ vehicle heading toward her hotel. After a minute of awkward silence, Samantha decided to bring up some things that had been bothering her. “So, I was talking to Darcy a little bit ago, and she was telling me about how you two used to date in high school. That’s right isn’t it?”

Chris kept his eyes on the road and just nodded, but his tightening grip on the steering wheel gave his nervousness away. “Yes. That’s right. We weren’t anything serious, though. Not like Vanessa and I were. And definitely not like you and I will be in the future.”

Samantha decided to ignore that last sentence, since the whole destiny thing still creeped her out a little bit. “Yeah. Darcy said that too. I guess I believe you but…are you friends with all your ex-girlfriends?”

Chris sighed. “I try to be. I mean, there’s no reason to just drop someone really cool off your social network just because you don’t work as a couple, right? Besides, none of my old girlfriends, aside from Vanessa, who still isn’t talking to me, were even in serious relationships with me. I mean, the only other girlfriend I’ve had besides Darcy and Vanessa was this girl named Stefanie that I dated in middle school, and we mostly just held hands. We kissed on the lips, closed mouths only, once, okay? Besides, I’m always loyal to the girl I’m with, and once we start dating, I will be with you for the rest of my life. So I don’t really see what the problem is anyway. Chris Bartlett is not a cheater! You can take that to the bank!”

Samantha could tell from the way that the volume of Chris’ voice was rising slightly that she had unintentionally struck a nerve by bringing up the ex-issue. She had not meant to imply that Chris would cheat on her with any of his exes, only that their presence in his life might make her uneasy. Still, it was good to know that fidelity was so important to Chris, since his left eye hadn’t twitched the entire time he was talking. Loyalty was something the she definitely looked for in a man, and she was glad Chris had it. Samantha smiled. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you or suggest that you were a cheater. I just didn’t understand the situation.”

Chris nodded calmly. “It’s okay. A lot of my other friend’s don’t get it either. I just don’t like the feeling of throwing someone away because they can’t meet my non-platonic needs, you know?”

Samantha nodded back. “That’s okay. Hey, since we’re talking, can I ask you another personal question?”

Chris shrugged. “Shoot.”

Samantha sighed. She was not looking forward to this part of the conversation. “Well, I’m just going off of what Darcy told me, okay? But…is it true that you’ve only dated…bigger girls in the past, and that you usually only find more…fully figured females attractive? Because I really don’t understand why you are attracted to me if that is the case.”

Chris chuckled. “First of all, you can say the word, okay? It doesn’t offend me. Yes, all of my ex’s have been fat. And I’m usually only attracted to fat girls. But I am still attracted to you, even though you are clearly not fat. I don’t really know why, and I don’t really care. All I know is that you are special, and that I think you are beautiful just the way you are.”

Samantha smiled nervously. “I guess I could be okay with that. Tell me the truth though: would you like me more if I did get fat?” The actress gulped, afraid Chris’ would answer her query in the affirmative.

Chris drove in silence for over a minute before replying. “I don’t know you very well yet, but I do know that you are my One and that I want you to be happy. That’s what I want. Fat or thin, as long as you are happy, that’s what really matters.” Samantha noticed that Chis’ eye wasn’t twitching, but he did seem nervous, and she couldn’t help but notice that the man hadn’t directly answered her question. Which probably meant one thing: Chris would, indeed, be more attracted to her if she gained weight, but he did not want to push that on her. That made Samantha nervous for several reasons.

One, a lot of the women in Samantha’s family, including her mother and sisters, were already fat, so obesity ran in the family, and she had to work very hard to stay slim as it was. Dating a chubby cha… fat admirer would making letting go, eating what she wanted, and getting fat an even easier, almost enticing, trap to fall into. Two, even if Chris didn’t try to force her to gain weight (and the man at least seemed too nice to try something like that), he certainly wouldn’t go to any great lengths to make sure she kept to her intense exercise routine and strict diet, as Taylor had pressured her to do before he had broken up with her. She had already gained five pounds since the breakup, and Samantha knew that if she felt like slacking off on her exercise time or cheating on her diet even more, Chris would only be too happy to enable her to do so. And finally, as an actress, she had a lot to lose financially and professionally if she did gain a lot of weight. 

But despite all of these considerations, Samantha did find herself liking Chris a lot already. He seemed handsome, courteous, smart, loyal, hardworking, and honest to a fault. Also, according to Darcy, he was great in the sack, which was always a plus in the mate selection process. Besides, according to the supposedly all-knowing timers, Chris was her One. Furthermore, a part of Samantha that she didn’t like to acknowledge thought that it would be a relief to be with someone that she knew would stay with her even if she “let herself go” and got fat. And doing so would certainly make it more likely that Chris would be willing to indulge Samantha's own secret, long suppressed fat admirer tendencies and get fat himself! After all, it had been over 5 years since the invention of the white pill that insured that getting fat didn’t have to mean becoming unhealthy, so both her and Chris gaining weight couldn’t be all that bad. She had never been in a relationship that had felt that secure and stress-free….

Samantha’s thoughts were cut off by the sound of Chris phone ringing. Seeing the number on the phone and frowning, Chris asked Samantha’s permission to stop, got it, then quickly pulled over into a parking lot, parked the car, and picked up the phone while apologizing profusely to Samantha. After several seconds of watching Chris on the phone and wondering what was going on as Chris’ skin became slightly pale, the man said, “I’ll be right there.”, and hung up the phone before staring the car again. “I’m sorry about this Samantha. I’m going to have to make a stop before bringing you home and it may take a while, so I might be calling you a cab. I wouldn’t do that to you unless it was an emergency.”

“What emergency? What’s going on!?”

“We’re going to the hospital. That call was from one of the doctor’s at the E.R there, and it was made from Vanessa’s cellphone. Apparently, she still has me listed as her next of kin.” Samantha put a hand on Chris’ right shoulder to comfort him as he stared blankly into space. “My ex-girlfriend just tried to commit suicide!”


	5. Chapter 5

5 minutes later…

As soon as Samantha had settled herself in the waiting room and assured Chris that she could call for a cab herself, the dark haired man took off like a flash toward the room the receptionist said Vanessa was in. Chris swift exit from the lobby brought about mixed feelings in the actress’ person. Although Samantha was glad that Chris was so loyal to his friends that he had rushed so quickly to help one in need, Samantha was not so happy that the person that needed help this time was Chris’ ex-girlfriend. ‘The girl dumped him, but at the first sign that she’s in trouble, he takes off like a bat out of hell to help her anyway?! What’s that about?!’ The actress quickly put the kibosh on that thought. Samantha knew that was a very ugly way to think about someone who was so troubled, and in so much pain, that she had actually tried to take her own life,. The celeb felt like a terrible person for letting such a petty thought enter her head just because she was jealous that her one was giving another girl so much attention. 

Samantha was a little startled by that thought. ‘Jealous? Am I really jealous that Chris is paying attention to someone else?’ The actress quickly realized that she was. ‘But that doesn’t make sense!’ She tried to rationalize to herself. ‘You and Chris agreed to be just friends just a few hours ago. Why would you feel jealous that he’s looking after an ex who’s in dire need of emotional support? You hardly know the guy! You can’t like him already. Like romantically. Can you?’ Samantha quickly realized that she did like Chris in that way already. She had liked him from the first moment he had looked at her in awe in the TIMER store, despite her best efforts not to. And why not? The man was good looking, smart, empathetic, and apparently, loyal to a fault. Ironically, his mad dash to help out a ‘friend’ in dire straits, even though she had hurt him before, had solidified Chris solid reputation in this last area into Samantha’s mind. The celebrity suddenly realized she wasn’t upset with Chris or Vanessa. She was upset with herself for not noticing how much she liked Chris earlier and asking if they could start dating as soon as possible. Now, Samantha was selfishly afraid that, between the crisis that Chris was helping to manage here, which would probably consume most of his emotional energy for a while, and Samantha’s own busy schedule, it might take a long time before she had the chance to tell Chris how she felt about him. ‘Damn it.’

Samantha took out her cell phone to call for a cab, but before she could do so, her friend and agent, Sophia, called her. Samantha quickly answered the phone and listened to what her agent said for a couple minutes before she responded. “Are you sure? Already?! But we haven’t even been shooting for a week!” After listening to Sophia for another few seconds, Samantha calmed down a little. “So, at least it’s not over for sure yet? That’s good. Thanks for letting me know. I’m still out with Chris….” Samantha did not feel it would be a good idea for her to mention what had happened to her future husband’s ex at this time. “But I guess I don’t need to rush home now….” Sophia interrupted Samantha before she could finish speaking and the actress balked at her friend’s reply. “What do you mean I can’t go home?!” Realizing that she had yelled that last sentence, and that several people in the waiting room, besides the ones who had been looking at the celebrity since she had entered the hospital, were now staring at her, Samantha silently mouthed “sorry” to her unintended audience and went outside to finish her conversation. After listening to her friend’s end of the discussion for another minute, Samantha huffed in annoyance. “Okay. Thanks for the heads up, Sophia. Yes, I can think of one place I can go. Yeah. Go ahead and get some rest. Sounds like you’ll have a lot of work to do in the morning because of me. Good night.” Samantha hung up the phone, sighed, and walked back into the hospital. As bad a time as it was for this, she needed to talk to Chris right now.  
…  
Chris breathed out a sigh of relief as Vanessa finally opened her eyes. After the man’s ex-girlfriend regained consciousness and looked him in the eyes, Chris rushed to her side and stood over her bed, but resisted the urge to hold the woman’s hand. After all, she wasn’t his anymore, and that had been Vanessa’s choice. Finally, after a long moment of silence, in which the troubled young woman oriented herself to her current situation and Chris’ presence in the room, Vanessa looked down at her freshly bandaged wrists and forced out a laugh. “Wow. I really can’t do anything right, can I? I should have remembered that it’s down the road not across the…”

Chris cut her off. “Stop it! Nothing about this situation is funny, Vanessa! You tried to fucking kill yourself!” Vanessa looked down, obviously startled. She had never seen her usually friendly, polite ex-boyfriend this angry before. Seeing that he had scared Vanessa, Chris softened his tone, but only a little. “Look, I’m glad that you’re not dead, okay?! But what you did was really stupid, Vanessa! Why the hell would you want to throw your life away like that?! You know what, never mind, I need to go tell the nurse that you are awake, anyway….”

But Vanessa’ voice stopped him before he could exit the room. “I did it because I have no one left who gives a damn about me anymore, okay!? I’ve been estranged from my parents for years, I don’t have any friends, and I had just left you, the only person in the world who I have ever felt really loved me for who I am, so that you could go running of into the sunset with your soul mate! I’m sorry that I forgot to take you off my next of kin list before starting all this, I wasn’t just doing this to get attention, I just….”Vanessa burst into tears shortly before Chris handed her a tissue from a box in the middle of the room, which the young rubenesque woman accepted gratefully. “I don’t want to live in world in which no one cares about me!”

Chris frowned and sat on the bed next to his ex. “I still care about you, Vanessa. You broke up with me, remember? Now, considering the circumstances, I think it was probably the right thing to do, but it was your choice.” 

Vanessa nodded and cried some more into her tissue as Chris continued speaking. “That being said…Just because we broke up, that doesn’t mean I don’t care about you. I will always be your friend, and I will always love you…even if I’m not in love with you anymore.” Chris hoped he hadn’t been too harsh by adding that last part, but he felt it would be best to be honest about his emotions up front. 

The dark haired young man though he saw some movement outside the hospital room door out of the corner of his eye, but when he turned around to look into the hallway, there was nothing there that he could see. Shrugging, Chris concluded his point. “And I would have been absolutely devastated if you had succeeded in taking your own life. If you have a problem, you can talk to me, okay!? Now, promise me that you won’t hurt yourself again!”

Vanessa hung her head in shame. “I promise. I’m sorry for putting you through all this, Chris. Thank you for coming to see me” 

“You’re welcome. “

Satisfied with his ex’s answer, Chris got up to go get the nurse, but Vanessa’s words stopped him again. “You have been seeing her, and you like her already, don’t you? Really like her? Samantha, I mean?”

Chris sighed and turned around. “I don’t know if I should be telling you this, especially after…” Vanessa looked at him like he was being stupid, so Chris decided to just come clean. “Yes on all counts, but Samantha and I have agreed to take things slow for now and just be friends for the time being.” Chris frowned in confusion and added. “Although I don’t know how you know my one is named Samantha…”

Vanessa laughed, ignoring Chris’ implied question. “Of course you just want to be friends with her right now. I saw what Samantha, who I heard is your “one”, looks like while watching all that news coverage of your ‘written in the stars’ romance. That girl’s 100 pounds short of your usual type!”

Chris chuckled despite himself. “At least.” Once again, Chris caught sight of that same movement out of the corner of his eye, which had been accompanied by the sound of a cough. This time though, Chris was fast enough to see the source of the movement and sound before that source vanished back into the hallway, and the man smiled as he turned back towards his ex. “But that’s not the reason we’re just friends right now. I do find her attractive just as she is, even though she’s not my usual type. I just don’t know if she has romantic feelings for me yet, and I don’t want to push things right now.”

Vanessa nodded. “I understand. I hope she realizes that she is a lucky girl to have you though, even if she’s likely to get fat because of you before too long.” 

“Vanessa, I don’t necessarily think…” 

But the large young woman in the hospital bed cut off his objection. “Don’t try to deny it, sir. Oh, I know you won’t force her to get fat. You never do that. But name one girl you’ve dated that hasn’t gained at least 20 pounds because you kept treating her to her favorite foods, and did things for her so she wouldn’t have to exert herself, and told her that you didn’t mind whenever she went up a dress size?! I gained 50 pounds dating you, to my recollection.” 

Chris just nodded. There was no denying that, although he had never forced, or even asked, any of his girlfriends to gain weight, he had certainly enabled all of them to do so, and that pattern would probably continue with Samantha. Since she was his One, if anything, she would probably gain even more weight due to his tendency to spoil his girlfriends. Chris really didn’t know how to feel about that though. On the one hand, he was afraid that Samantha gaining weight would be bad for her career and happiness, which is why Chris had vowed to try to curb his feeder tendencies around Samantha as best he could. But another, selfish part of him couldn’t stop thinking of how much hotter the already stunning Samantha would look at 200, 300, 400, or even more pounds. In Chris’ eyes, there was no such thing as a woman that was too fat. His philosophy on this subject was simple: “The bigger the better!” 

Vanessa smirked, as if she could read Chris’ thoughts simply by watching the dopey look that had appeared on his face. “Yeah, that’s what I thought. Anyway, what I was trying to say was that I hope she makes you happy. I already know you will make her happy.”

Chris shrugged in confusion. “What makes you think that?”

Vanessa laughed. “Why do you think all your ex’s are still friends with you, Chris? You are really good at making your girlfriends happy, because you spoil us all rotten. That makes it pretty hard for us to hold a grudge against you. Don’t worry. I’m sure even if little miss starlet gains 400 pounds, you’ll have made her so happy by then that she won’t even care.” Chris was about to protest again before Vanessa held up a hand. “I’m not saying that will actually happen though. I’m just saying that Samantha is lucky you are her One, no matter how big she gets because of you. I just hope I find someone else someday that makes me half as happy as you did.”

Chris frowned and sat back on the chair next to Vanessa’s bed. “I’m sure your One will make you much happier than I did once you find him oe her. You should get yourself a timer. And I’m not saying that as a company spokesperson. I’m saying that as your friend. Even if we aren’t together anymore, I still want you to be happy.”

Vanessa nodded. “Thank you. I’ll think about it. Hey Chris, I’m kind of tired, and you know how much it freaks me out when people watch me when I’m trying to sleep. Can you go and come to see me tomorrow, maybe? I promise not to try to hurt myself again while you are gone.”

Chris nodded. “Sure thing. I’ll see you some time tomorrow then.” And with that, Chris left the room. As soon as he was in the hallway though, he smiled and spoke softly. “Are you going to talk to me? Or are you just going to keep hiding behind that door all night?!”

With a guilty look on her face, Samantha came out from behind the open door that led to Vanessa’s room. “I’m sorry. I was just coming to get you and…I don’t normally eavesdrop, but you were saying some things about me and…” Samantha sighed, knowing there was no excuse for her inappropriate behavior. “I’m really sorry.” And then another thought occurred to the woman. “So you knew I was out here? Why didn’t you say anything?”

Chris sighed as he began walking towards the hospital entrance, making a brief stop to tell a nurse that Vanessa had woken up, and Samantha followed. “First of all, you can stop apologizing, I’m the one that bailed on giving you a ride home to rush to my ex’s hospital bed, okay? So you aren’t the only one that messed up tonight. It’s not really okay, but I forgive you. I didn’t say anything because, as far as I know, you weren’t hearing anything you didn’t need to know before dating me anyway. Also, Vanessa has a wild temper, and she would probably have tried to get out of her hospital bed and kick your ass if she knew you were spying on us. And I knew you were out there because I just managed to catch a glimpse of you at one point, but I don’t know how long you were there or how much you heard. So….”

Samantha quickly figured out that Chris wanted her to fill in the blanks, so she did. “I think I came up to the door, and I was going to ask you to give me a lift and maybe let me use your parent’s place to crash for the night, a long story I’ll tell you in a little bit, just before you said that you weren’t in love with Vanessa anymore.”

Now it was Chris’ turn to look nervous and guilty as he opened the front passenger door of his car to let Samantha into his vehicle. After Samantha had entered the car, and Chris was behind the wheel, the man sighed. “I guess we have a lot to talk about then.”

On the drive to his parent’s home, Chris confessed that, while he did still love Vanessa as a friend, he had realized that he hadn’t been in love with his ex since shortly after the timers went off. And that had happened around the same time as Chris realized that he already felt romantic feelings for Samantha, although the man emphasized that it was okay if she did not reciprocate those emotions yet, especially considering everything else that Samantha had heard tonight. Chris reluctantly admitted that he did have a tendency to enable his girlfriend’s to gain a lot of weight, and he did generally enjoy it when that happened. But the man emphasized again that he found Samantha beautiful the way she was and that he would try to suppress his tendencies as much as he could, since he did not want to risk ruining Samantha’s career, or her happiness, by making her fat. 

Surprisingly, Samantha took the new info about Chris fat loving tendencies pretty well. “Actually, I don’t think it’s that bad. I mean, obviously, I can’t gain a bunch of weight right now, with my career being what it is, but I think I have enough self-control to manage my own diet and exercise regime and stay at a healthy weight. And It’s nice to know that, if my acting career does end at some point, I’ll be able to relax and eat what I want after I retire and not worry about you leaving me if I get fat! Speaking of eating, I haven’t had dinner yet tonight, would you mind if we stopped somewhere and grabbed something for me to eat? I’m starving!” 

Samantha was proud that she was able to keep the mixture of fear and excitement she felt out her voice. Her mom and sisters being fat, and her own love of food, had made Samantha dread getting fat herself since middle school. Which was one reason that she had been on a strict diet and exercise regime since she had been 14. And as she approached her 30’s, Samantha’s fears became more and more pronounced as it became harder and harder to keep the pounds off. Even worse, for almost a week after she had broken up with Taylor, Samantha had eaten away her heartache and gained 10 pounds, only five of which she had been able to lose since then while the other five stubbornly clung to her abdomen like superglue. Samantha knew that having a “fat admirer” boyfriend, and later, husband, would certainly not help her in her efforts to stay slim. And yet… part of Samantha was glad that Chris had such a positive outlook on fat women. After all, she knew that there was at least a chance that her genetics would catch up to her one day, and that she might get fat despite her best efforts to stay slim. Also, although Samantha knew it would ruin her career to act on this impulse, she was occasionally tempted to leave the Hollywood rat race with the money she had already saved, kick back, relax, eat what she wanted to, and get fat, just to get it over with. Just so she wouldn’t have to worry about fighting the “battle of the bulge” anymore. It was kind of nice to know that the man she was destined to spend the rest of her life with would be okay with it if she ever did decide to act on that impulse, especially when that man was somebody that had numerous other positive attributes...and might be willing to get fat himself. Besides, it’s not like getting fat had to be bad for you since some recent advances in medical science had occurred.

As Samantha ate her late dinner ( a medium combo meal with a burger, fries, and a coke which Chris secretly hoped would add to the five pounds Samantha had already gained since the day he had first met her), the actress told Chris about the phone call she had received from Sophia. It turned out that, while Chris, Samantha and their friends had been playing laser tag, the producers of the movie that Samantha had been asked to co-star in had determined the film had already gone over budget in the first week of filming due to the director’s extravagant demands, such as having hundreds of extras in every scene and an excessive use of pyrotechnics and other special effects. Unfortunately, due to the way the director’s contract was worded, it would be impossible to fire the director without scrapping the film entirely, and the producers could not afford to fund all of the director’s demands. There was word that an anonymous billionaire had offered to fund the rest of the making of the film, and all the director’s requests, if certain demands were met. However, Sophia didn’t know what those demands from the possible donor were yet, only that the producers had said they were…highly unorthodox. Until the producers, director, and the billionaire could come to some sort of an agreement, production of the film had halted. Since Samantha had just shot the last episode of the season for the sci-fi show she was currently working on, and it was unknown if another season would be green lit, Samantha didn’t currently have any acting obligations…or opportunities, at the moment.

Sophia had also revealed that some Hollywood reporter had found the hotel that Samantha was living in from one of the employees at said hotel, and the press were already swarming around the building’s property. The hotel manager wouldn’t actually let the paparazzi on the property, of course, and the employee that had revealed Samantha’s location was going to be fired as soon as his or her identity was discovered. But in the meantime, Samantha had been told to stay clear of any hotels or motels, which the press had proved annoyingly good at finding her in, as well as any of her usual friend’s houses (including Sophia’s) and lay low somewhere else. And since Chris’ parents’ house was the only place she could think of to do that…

Chris quickly agreed to let Samantha stay at his parent’s place with him as long as she needed to. After the pre-couple had pulled into the garage of the “summer home”, Chris lead Samantha to the biggest guest room in the house where he usually slept when he was here, got the few items of his he had placed in the room and moved them to another guest room, and insisted that Samantha stay in the largest guest room. Samantha tried to protest that that was his room, but Chris would have none of it. “A host should always do his best to make his guest comfortable. That’s what I was taught anyway.” Chris pointed to the bathroom that was joined to the guest room. “That’s your bathroom. It has its own toilet, sink, bath and shower, and basic toiletry items for guest so you can brush your teeth and stuff. Each bathroom has its own hot water supply, so you can take as long a shower as you want whenever you decide to do so. Feel free to wake up as early or late as you want, but I usually wake up around 8, so plan to wake up some time after that if you want me to make you breakfast. I could make you some excellent….”

Samantha cut the man off by kissing him right on the mouth. She honestly felt like she couldn’t help herself. In addition to being loyal, smart, and handsome, Chris’ selfless attempts to treat her like a princess had already won her over. Besides, since she already knew Chris liked her as more than a friend, the actress didn’t see the harm in showing him she liked him too. Although she hadn’t intended to, Samantha opened her mouth during the kiss, and Chris did the same. The osculation only lasted for five seconds, but both Chris and Samantha felt like it was the best kiss either of them had ever had. After the actress finally pulled away, she gave Chris a cheeky grin as she led him to the door of her room. “Whatever you decide to make me will will be fine. And in case you haven’t figured it out, I already like you quite a lot, Chris.” Samantha’s eyes took on a mischievous glint as she added. “But I’m still sleeping alone for tonight.” And with that, Samantha quickly shut the door in front of Chris. 

The dark haired man smiled as he walked back to “his” room. Samantha was certainly different than any other girl he had ever dated. And he was starting to think that, in some ways, that was a very good thing.


	6. chapter 6

Chris hit his ringing alarm clock, and groaned as he rolled out of bed at 8 A.M. like he did every morning. Well, most mornings. The man silently admitted to himself that, on days that he didn’t have work, if he had had sex the night before, he sometimes was a bit tired and got a later start. But the young man quickly shoved that thought away, because that wasn’t likely to happen anytime soon. Even though Samantha, his one that he hadn’t met too long ago, clearly already liked him and was technically already living with him, she had made it clear that she wanted to take the physical side of their new relationship slow.

And part of Chris was fine with that, really. After all, his emotions were still reeling from the events of the past couple of weeks. Such as finding out his “One” wasn’t who he thought it was, having his timer go off simultaneously with that of, not just a celebrity he liked, but his favorite actress, being hounded by said actress’ fans and the press after his longtime girlfriend of 4 years had broken up with him, spending time with Samantha and her friends, dealing with the fallout of his ex-girlfriend trying to kill herself, Samantha moving in with him, and, last, but certainly not least, the kiss he and Samantha had shared last night.

It was that kiss that had been the problem, because after Samantha had kissed him, Chris had felt…Something he didn’t know how to put his finger on, only that it was more than just physical and it felt better than any other experience he had ever had with any of his exes. And Chris had had a hard time sleeping last night because, whatever that feeling had been, he knew part of him wanted more of it as soon as possible.

The man still couldn’t shake the memory of just how it had felt when Samantha’s lips were on his as he brushed his teeth, showered, shaved, changed and got ready for his day. And that feeling that Chris couldn’t define stayed with him…creating a strange mix of happiness, desire, and frustration in his person as he exited his room and headed towards the kitchen, noting the closed door that lead to what was, temporarily, Samantha’s room. The dark haired man sighed in frustration as he paused for just a moment outside the door, noting the sound of Samantha’s shower starting up from her bathroom.

He certainly hoped that Samantha felt the same way he did about wanting more physical contact between them soon. Chris was a gentleman, and he was determined to let Samantha set the pace for the physical side of their new relationship (whatever that was), but a simple kiss from her had gotten under his skin like nothing else ever had. Chris already felt like he was in love with the smart, beautiful, and passionate woman on the other side of that door and he wasn’t quite sure he wouldn’t end up wanting to rip his hair out in frustration if the actress wanted to wait a long time to start having a more physical relationship with him. Shaking his head in an attempt to clear his mind of those base thoughts, the youngest Bartlett walked into the kitchen to prepare some toast, the first item in the large breakfast that the man planned to prepare this morning, so that he and Samantha could satisfy a different physical appetite. As Chris was preparing the simple breakfast however, the man’s attention was drawn to the front door of the summer house he was in, which was now being opened with a key by a middle aged couple he knew very well.

Chris walked towards the front of the house to greet his parents. Arnold Bartlett, a man in his late fifties who looked like he had gained thirty pounds since Chris had last seen him, pushing the man out of chubby territory and straight into fatness, had green eyes and neat, dark hair that looked exactly like his son’s, minus a few spots of gray. Arnold's wife, Mary Bartlett, an extremely heavyset women with blonde hair and blue eyes who was in her early fifties, but looked to be closer to her early thirties because the fat that gave the woman her moon-like face, complete with plump cheeks and a double chin, also covered up the few wrinkles she did possess quite nicely.

When Chris walked up to his parent’s to greet them at the door after saying hello, his mother quickly wrapped him up in a large hug that nearly engulfed her son’s smaller frame, causing Chris to chuckle in amusement while his father just smiled when his mom explained: “It’s so good to see you again, Chris! It has been far too long since we were last able to make to this trip to L.A. all the way from New York! I still wish that you had chosen to buy a franchise with that money we loaned you that was closer to our new home after your father and I moved to New York from L.A. to be closer to company’s headquarters, so that we could see you more often!”

Now it was Mr. Bartlett’s turn to chuckle after his wife finally pulled far enough away to allow his son to take a step backwards. “Now, don’t start that again now, dear! Our son has been doing just fine with the L.A. region of my company, helping bring record profits to our West Coast branch! And he’s already paid off that loan we gave him, so there is no point in arguing about his choice in franchise locations! Besides, if Chris had chosen to stay in New York, it probably would have taken him longer to find his One, since she lives right here in L.A. too! After all, she is the whole reason we are here, Mary!”

Chris sighed. He was wondering exactly what his father had been getting at when he had said that TIMER INC. was “his company”, and why his father had gained so much weigh in the year since he had told Chris he was going on a diet last time the father and son had spoken, but there was a more pressing issue that needed to be discussed before he asked about that.

Before Chris could open his mouth to tell his parent’s about Samantha’s current living situation, he heard said young woman’s voice coming from out of the hallway where her room was located. The young man turned his head as Samantha stepped out of her temporary dwelling space wearing nothing but a bath robe in full view of himself…and his parent’s, who Samantha did not see because she was still looking down.. “Good morning, Chris! That toast sure smells good to me right now! Thanks for letting me stay here…and for everything else, by the way! That was a great shower, the water was nice and h…”

Miss Vantras never did complete that statement, for when she finally looked up, she saw their where three people in the living room instead of one. Chris was there, but so where two middle aged individuals, who, judging from their readily apparent physical similarities to her “One”, where Chis’ parents. The young starlet was mortified as she followed the gaze of the heavier woman in the room, which kept wandering between her son, the doorway of the room Chris usually slept in when he was at this house, and herself, clad only in a bathrobe. The actress also tried to ignore the smirk that had appeared on the older gentleman’s face as he looked between his son and herself. Noticing that Chris hair was still wet, just like her own, from taking his own shower, Samantha quickly put together what Chris’ parents must have assumed had just taken place between their son and herself in the shower. After several awkward moments, Samantha was able to compose herself just enough to wave and say “Hi.” In a nervous tone.

Chris sighed heavily, then finally went into damage control mode as he gestured between Samantha and his parents. “Mom, Dad, this is the girl I was telling you about, Samantha Vantras, my ‘One.’ Samantha, these are my parents, Arnold and Mary Bartlett.” Chris cursed under his breath as he rushed to get the momentarily forgotten toast, which now smelled like it was burning. After he had stopped his parent’s kitchen from potentially catching on fire, Chris chuckled nervously. “I think all four of us need to have a talk, now.”

Mary Bartlett sighed heavily, an act which caused her whole body to shake, an event not at all concealed by the 350 pound woman’s snug black dress, starting from her massive, sagging breasts, and moving down to her huge double rolled belly, before the movement finally settled on wiggling her large, squishy thighs, and her huge ass, which simultaneously stuck out behind the woman and spread to her sides, allowing anyone viewing the large woman’s profile from the front to see her backside easily. “Yes. I think we should do that.”

Mr. Bartlett, still smiling, but understanding how awkward his son probably felt at this moment, decided to step in. “That sounds like a good idea. But let’s talk over breakfast, shall we? Chris, would you mind helping me cook breakfast !? I don't know about you two, but me and Mary are starving!” Arnold shook his large belly to emphasize his point, and Chris noticed that his mom just laughed jovially at her husband's gesture, while Samantha, who was smiling, seemed more amused than disgusted by her one's obese parents.

Chris nodded enthusiastically with an expression in his eyes that somehow made Samantha feel scared and excited at the same time as he looked right at her. “Sure thing, dad!”

Several minutes ago…

As Samantha finished her half hour long shower, in which she had finished washing herself long ago and had just finished pleasuring herself to the mental image of Chris kissing her like he had last night, only naked, the starlet sighed. While she finished getting ready, she thought about her conflicting feelings about Chris. She already knew she liked him, as more than a friend, the kiss she had given the man last night had proven that well enough to both of them. In fact, Samantha knew that she really liked Chris because, after she had kissed him, part of her had wanted more from the man last night. A lot more. And that scared Samantha a little, because wanting to sleep with a man after only having one none-date with them was not like her at all.

Oh, it wasn’t like Samantha was completely inexperienced in interacting with the opposite sex. For the actress had had many boyfriends. And she wasn’t a virgin. But she did consider sex to be something that should be reserved for someone very special to her, that she knew without a doubt she was in love with. That was why, in all of her life, she had only slept with her most recent ex, Taylor, and even then, only after they had been dating for almost 6 months. But for some reason, Chris had been able to get past the part of her emotional barrier that usually told her to “hit the brakes” with a guy she didn’t know too well, to the point that part of her regretted not allowing herself to take Chris into her bed last night.

As crazy as it sounded, Samantha already felt that she was in love with Chris, and she had badly wanted to show that to the handsome, intelligent, loyal, and courteous man from across the hall…and she was curious to see if Chris was as good in bed as Darcy said he was. In truth, the only thing that had stopped her was the fact that she did not want her One to think she was “easy.” But now that she had thought about it some more (as she had been for much of last night), the dark haired girl realized that Chris was probably too much of gentleman to think that way, at least if his past behavior which she had observed was any indication.  
Besides, the starlet realized that she had something with Chris that she had never had with any of her other boyfriends: a guarantee. Samantha knew from her timer that Chris was her One. That she and him were destined to spend their lives together and (judging from Chris’ obviously positive view about marriage, which he had exhibited when he had confessed that he had been planning to propose to Vanessa before the timer incident) get married someday. Which meant (Samantha hoped) that she couldn’t screw things up with Chris if she wanted to, just by moving the physical part of her relationship with him a little faster than she was used to.

Still, the starlet didn’t want to just throw herself at Chris, and she did like being pursued…With that in mind, Samantha quickly made a decision, sliding her naked, newly dried form into the bath robe that was reserved for guests, instead of her clothes from last night (Samantha knew she would have to ask Sophia to get her other things at the hotel room later), before styling her hair. She figured that, by doing so, she would send Chris a message that she was available for sex…no, that was wrong the wrong term, “making love” this morning.

Sighing nervously, Samantha prepared to exit, first the bathroom, then “her” room into the hall, before her phone rang. Picking it up off the table she had placed it on by the side of her bed, the actress answered her phone after noticing her agent’s caller id message. “Hi, Sophia? What’s up?” The actress hesitated several seconds while her friend talked on the other end of the line, then frowned. “Damn it! Are you sure?! Do you have any good news for me at all?!”

The person on the other end of the line spoke for several second before the actress replied. “What do you mean, that depends?” After she listened to her friend for another minute, Samantha nodded her head. “Okay, that’s good. So the movie deal sounds like it could be still on. I could probably live off just that for a while if I have to. But what are the conditions, exactly? Stop being so vague, Sophia. What do I have to do to appease this mysterious billionaire and keep the picture running?!”

Samantha only hesitated five seconds this time before she cut her friend’s reply off, while just barely managing to keep herself from yelling. “Are you kidding me?! 100?!” Samantha laughed darkly. “Well, that's just par for the course isn’t it?! Apparently, the entire universe is conspiring to make me fat! First my timer going off with Chris, then finding out what Darcy told me about the man…Not now, Sophia, I’ll tell you later. And now this!” Samantha sighed. “How long do I have to decide?...24 hours? And the producers are okay with this, and they’ll pay for everything?!....No, I believe you, this all sort of moving fast for me. I just need a little while to think about this, okay?! I will have my answer for you within 3 hours. If there isn’t anything else we need to talk about, I had something I wanted to do this morning….It’s actually kind of private, but I will talk to you later okay? Alright….Your awesome too, Sophia! Bye.”

After the artist of the silver screen hung up the phone, she sighed and walked out the door, so deep in thought about the mysterious billionaire’s strange condition for her continued employment that she didn’t notice the activity towards the front of the summer house as she walked towards the kitchen while talking so that Chris could hear her. When she did finally notice the other two people near the front door beside Chris, and figured out what they had probably just assumed about her and their son, all the woman could do was wave nervously and say “Hi!”

Back to the present…

Over the next several minutes, after Samantha had changed back into her clothes from last night, Mary Bartlett and Samantha waited at the dining room table and talked while the two Bartlett men made a fabulous breakfast of pancakes and waffles smothered in butter and syrup, bacon, sausage, and hash browns, as well as the toast that Chris had just barely been able to salvage before it started burning, while occasionally commenting on the conversation at the table they could overhear.  
Samantha had offered to help the men cook, or at least set the table, but both Bartlett males refused, and Arnold said something to the effect of that it was the men who cooked in the Bartlett family, which he already considered Samantha to be part of, while the women talked and waited to be spoiled by their men. Samantha didn’t know whether to be offended or flattered by that statement, but she was slightly relieved when she heard Chris mutter something to his father about “laying it on a little thick, don’t you think? I don’t want to pressure her, you know?!”

That statement at least made the actress feel like her wishes were being taken into account too. At least by Chris. Although the conversation between Samantha and her future mother in law was awkward at first, it ceased to be so after she made it clear that she had been staying in Chris’ usual room instead of her son, and that nothing had…happened between them yet, but that she had started moving into this house last night because of her difficulties ducking the press. Both of Chris’ parents seemed to understand that, and Mr. Bartlett interjected that he would be happy to buy and set up a new place for Samantha to live that would be in the area and away from the public eye…but it might take a few weeks to set up.

When Samantha and Mary had simultaneously interrupted the man (while Chris remained very quiet while flipping eggs on a frying pan), Mary to say she hoped they could get Samantha a place before that so that their son and Samantha wouldn’t have to live together very long before getting married (Chris and Samantha had simultaneously coughed at the mention of the “M word”), and Samantha to object that she did not need any financial assistance from Arnold, the man just laughed. “I have the same response for both of you lovely ladies. As far as I’m concerned, Samantha, you and my son are destined to be together for the rest of your lives, and that makes you family! And family looks out for each other, and…Mary, I don’t think it will be a problem for our son and our future daughter in law to live together for just a little while when them getting married in the future is a foregone conclusion, do you?”

“I suppose not.” Mary grumbled reluctantly. Samantha had already guessed that Mary was the more conservative of the two elder Bartletts. But the large woman seemed to know that, as Chris had said, Mr. Bartlett always got what he wanted, and there was no use arguing about it

. Following Mrs. Bartlett’s lead, Samantha decided to “give in” as well and graciously accepted Mr. Bartlett’s offer to find her a new place. Once that was done, Mary turned to Samantha and smiled. “I’m sorry dear. I don’t want you to feel unwelcome in our family, especially since you are all but part of it. You seem like a wonderful girl from what I’ve seen and what Chris has said about you over the phone, but… a mother worries, you understand? It’s nothing personal.”

Samantha smiled as she spoke loud enough for everyone in the house to understand. “I understand. You just love your son a lot, and you want what’s best for him. And it seems you’ve done a great job raising him, Mr. and Mrs. Bartlett. I can already tell that you son is a great man!”

That sentence made Mary smile and thank the actress, while Arnold just laughed, smiled with pride, and insisted that Samantha call them by their first names from now on. And before she could respond to that, the Bartlett men started setting the table and brought out the newly cooked breakfast items. Samantha found herself quite intimidated by the huge amount of food on the table, especially after Chris one served himself a very small portions food before Arnold placed a much larger amount of food on his and Samantha’s plates, which now contained a little bit of every food item on the table, before giving his wife an even bigger serving.

Samantha initially looked down at the food in trepidation after Mary had said grace and everyone but the actress started eating her food, and decided she would just eat a small amount of every item on her plate to be polite. That resolution didn’t last more than five seconds. After Samantha took her first bite of her waffle, she nearly moaned in ecstasy when the blend of flavors caused by the mixture of butter, syrup, and perfectly cooked waffle hit her taste buds. Samantha had never tasted anything so good! Before long, Samantha had lost herself in eating all the food items on her plate, each more delicious than the last, barely paying attention to the discussion that was occurring between Chris and his father, who was boasting that the former CEO of TIMER Inc. had retired, named him his successor, sold Arnold his shares, and made him the new CEO and president of the company, although Samantha did have the good graces to congratulate the man on his accomplishment alongside everybody else at the table. Nor did Samantha notice that Arnold and Mary were just as engrossed in eating their food as Samantha was, and the actress took no notice of it when Arnold put more food on her plate both times it started to run out of food, just like Mary didn’t notice her husband refill both her plate, and his own, three times. At the end of meal, when all the food on the table had been eaten, Arnold, Samantha and Mary were totally stuffed, and the three of them were lying back on their chairs, groaning from the combination of pleasure and pain that was now hitting their stomachs as their minds finally registered just how full they were as the two women and one man, whose bellies were now straining against their suddenly tight clothes, rubbed their full stomachs while Chris started cleaning off the table and doing dishes, sneaking in a few admiring glances toward Samantha as he did so.

Finally, several minutes later, after she had recovered from the huge meal, Samantha burped loudly, then covered her mouth with embarrassment But Mary turned to her future daughter in law, let out and even louder belch herself while still rubbing her swollen belly, and laughed as her husband let out a quieter burp a moment later. “You better get used to that feeling, because that’s how it works with the men in the Bartlett family! They cook delicious, irresistible food, and we women eat a whole lot of it! That’s why I’m so fat! And as you can see, my appetite has also rubbed off on my big handsome husband over the last few years!”

Mary laughed again as she and her husband shook their large bellies playfully, causing the actress to raise an eyebrow in interest. She had never met anyone who was so upfront about, and evidently, so happy about, being fat. She didn’t blame Mr and Mrs. Bartlett for being fat, though, of course. Samantha had never had a problem with people that happened to be fat, after all. She had even dated a fat guy named Mike in high school for several months before she and Mike had amicably split up just before she went to LA to act, and Mike went to college in Boston. But Mary’s statement did make Samantha a little wary of what her future with Chris might hold, and how big the man would, intentionally or unintentionally, make her in the future with his amazing cooking skills. After all, it was obvious Chris had inherited his father’s love of fat women and feeder tendencies, and the actress already had a genetic predisposition to becoming obese.

Samantha's trepidation grew when when Mary added. “Believe it or not, I used to be even skinnier than you when I met Chris’ father. It certainly didn’t take long for the man to start to rectify that! And he's actually started catching up to me in the eating department during the past two years, not that I mind a bit!“ Mary gave her husband's large (but not nearly as large as her own), a loving pat to emphasize her words, and Samantha grinned at the affectionate gesture between the obviously still very-much in love fat, older couple,

Seeing the worried look on the younger women’s face, Mary added in a whisper, since Chris already looked like he could die of embarrassment. “Don’t worry sweetie, I’m sure my son won’t force you to gain weight if you don’t want to. And my son is disciplined enough that he probably won't get fat like me or my husband, either. But if it’s any consolation, I wouldn’t trade my time with my husband for anything, much less to be thin again, or to date a skinny man! And if you do decide to let yourself gain weight , I think you will find, as I did, that life in the fat lane can be very enjoyable when you are with a man who appreciates your body that way, even if that man gets fluffy himself!” Not knowing what to say to that, Samantha just nodded.

Soon after that conversation was over, Mr. and Mrs. Bartlett took their leave after saying goodbye, because Arnold still had some business to take care of here on the West Coast, but they promised to visit Chris and Samantha again soon. Samantha had been mortified to discover she was still too full to get out of her chair and help Chris see his parents out the door, but the elder Bartletts had just laughed it off and told the starlet not to worry about it as she said goodbye to her future in laws from her place at the table.

After his parents were gone, Chris returned to the table and stood directly behind Samantha and her chair, making the actress wonder what he was doing as he began speaking. “Sorry about that. I love my parents, but they can be a little…intense at times.”

Samantha chuckled. “You can say that again!”

Chris chuckled back. “Yeah. And like I said yesterday, you don’t have to worry about me. I’m not going to make you gain weight if you don’t want to. And I don't plan on getting fat anytime soon myself. I just want you to be happy.”

“I believe you. But just so you know...” Samantha blushed as she spoke. “I wouldn't necessarily mind if you did get big...I mean fat, yourself. I've dated fat men...okay, one fat guy, before, and it wasn't actually a bad experience and...I'm not telling you to gain weight, but I'm just saying, if you did get fat like your dad, it wouldn't bother me. It might even be nice to have a big sexy teddy bear as my One, to hold onto every night.”

Samantha covered her mouth. “Did that sound weird? I can't believe I just blurted that out. I've never told anyone I've felt that way about fat guys before, even Taylor, and I've always felt pressured to date model and athletic types since becoming an actress and... I'm just going to stop talking now."

Chris smiled nervously, not sure what to say to Samantha's confession that, even though she seemed reluctant to gain weigh herself, she was a fat admirer, just like him. “Okay. We'll talk about that...other stuff, later. Now, if you don’t mind, I’m going to try to help you deal with that sore belly of yours. Just tell me if you want me to stop.” Before Samantha could reply, Chris yanked the bottom of her shirt upward just enough to expose her stuffed belly before he began to rub it. Now Samantha did moan in ecstasy at the mixture of the relief from the pain and the pleasure that Chris’ hands brought her. The mixture of the pleasure from Chris hands and the food in her belly, and the relief from the pain, was more pleasurable than anything that Samantha had ever experienced, even better than sex with Taylor had been. It was so pleasurable, in fact, that for the first time, Samantha understood why someone might actually choose to become fat for a significant other, as Mary Bartlett had. Getting to have this experience with Chris three times a day, for the rest of her life, sounded like the closest thing to heaven that Samantha could imagine... especially if Chris joined her in eating a lot of food beforehand, and the actress could rub her One's belly as well. But Samantha wondered: Was it really worth getting fat? The answer came to her as the actress smiled and remembered the pending decision she would have to make for her movie, which she had suddenly made her mind up about.

The actress smiled while Chris continued rubbing her belly with his seemingly magical hands. “Chris, I have something important to tell you. And I think you are going to like it!”

 


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meeting the other parents.

BURP!

“Excuse me!” Chris blushed as he apologized to some of the customers outside what had, over the past month, become the franchise owner's favorite TIMER Inc. store, for the massive burp that had just escaped from his mouth. Still, the manager couldn't suppress a smile as he remembered the large, triple burger meal, and huge chocolate shake, that he had just enjoyed at King Burger, Chris's favorite fast food restaurant in the LA area. Chris happily patted his starter pot belly, which had recently caused the man to grow out of his previous medium-sized TIMER Inc. pullover, and forced Chris to purchase the large shirt he now wore.

Darcy, who Chris had recently promoted to manager of this TIMER Inc. store, waived at Chris as he entered the front door of his most popular store location, and Chris' oldest friend pointed to her watch as she did so. “Right on time, boss! You really cut it close with that lunch break! I thought you were actually going to come back late this time!”

Chris laughed. “No way! I have still have a store to run! Just because I can't always get back from lunch early, doesn't mean I'm going to start slacking off at work!” The store owner lowered his voice to a whisper. “ It just takes me more time to eat, now that I'm actively trying to gain weight. But my hands are tied, Darcy. Samantha wants a fat husband! So that's what she'll get before she and I both waddle to the altar! Not that I've proposed yet, or anything.”

Darcy laughed when her boss patted his small belly, hoping her friend didn't notice her staring at Chris' stomach for several seconds as she did so. “I still think you're and Samantha's little deal to get fat for each other is a little weird...” the receptionist whispered to her friend. “But I also think it's kind of sweet that you're welling to go the extra mile to fulfill each others fantasies like this! You two fat admirers were clearly made for each other!”

Chris sighed, remembering that, in reality, his and Samantha's deal to get fat was a temporary one. A month ago, Samantha had explained to Chris that she secretly loved fat men, and wanted Chris to gain weight. This had occurred just before she had revealed that the anonymous billionaire that had agreed to fund Samantha's film was, apparently, a chubby chaser as well, and would only agree to give the film studio enough money to meet the director's extravagant demands if the female star of the show, Samantha Vantras, gained at least 100 pounds during the filming of the movie. After finding out the terms of the deal, and realizing that her fat admirer soul mate would only love her more if she agreed to the eccentric billionaire's demands, she had eventually agreed to these terms, both to keep the film going, and to please Chris, her new boyfriend. In return, the film studio had agree to pay for all of the actresses food and clothing needs as she grew fatter, as well as weekly doses of Lipidpro, the recently invented drug that made it perfectly healthy for a person to be fat while the drug was in their system, and the all-natural appetite enhancers that Samantha would need to gain a whopping 100 pounds during the film's one year of production. Furthermore, Samantha had requested that Chris join Samantha in “living life in the fat lane” and gain as much weight as he could while he was enjoying the pleasure of watching his soul mate get really fat! Chris, exited at the prospect of his svelte girlfriend getting really big, had quickly agreed to the plan, provided he could take Lipidpro too, off course, and he hadn't regretted it since.

Although the fifteen pounds that Chris had gained by scarfing down as much food as he could everyday were nothing compared to the thirty pounds his now voluptuous girlfriend had gained over the last month with appetite enhancers, mostly in her pot belly, larger breast, and slightly larger ass, Chris was still enjoying his own new pounds, as well as Samantha's. Chris slowly rubbed his belly again, only half-way listening to Darcy tell him about store business as he thought about the slightly larger belly he had gained, as well as the small bubble butt that he had developed, over the last month. The man privately admitted himself that he was loving getting fat so far. Loving how much softer his body was already getting, and even the way his slightly heavier form made each movement a little bit harder, forcing Chris to move a little more deliberately, and actually pay attention to his body as he moved. Now that formerly thoughtless actions, like walking, required some effort, Chris payed more attention too, and was more in tune with, his slightly larger body. And, on some primal level that Chris couldn't put into words, that made Chris feel like his added pounds were...right, somehow. Like he had always been meant to be bigger. Since this inexplicable, but absolutely positive, new feeling only seemed to grow stronger with every pound that Christ gained, the store owned was starting to feel like he had always been meant to be a fat man. And the fact that Chris could now eat his favorite foods without restrictions, and didn't need to jog every morning to stay in shape, since the only shape that either Chris or Samantha wanted the man to be was round, also made Chris feel pretty damn happy about the prospect of getting fatter. This made Chris wonder why he hadn't followed his exes' leads and “let himself go” years ago. The problem was, it didn't seem Samantha felt the same way about her own rapidly growing body.

Although Samantha complimented Chris frequently on his ongoing weight gain, and rubbed the slightly chubby man's belly several times a day , Samantha seemed more ambivalent about her own weight gain. The actress would sometimes tease Chris by rubbing her her belly while burping after a big meal, or jiggling her bigger belly and ass with her hands every time she and Chris had sex. Lovemaking was something the couple had started doing the day they had both agreed to gain weight, and did so more and more frequently as Chris and Samantha both packed on the pounds. And Samantha frequently said it was nice not to worry about her figure, working out, or what she ate (and it turned out Samantha loved to eat!), anymore. However, the actress frequently said things like “I'm nervous what the press will report about my weight gain, since I'm not allowed to give away anything about the film I'm working on, much less that the main character steadily becomes really fat during the course of the movie” or “I hope my friends, other than Sophia, don't isolate me because I'm getting fat.” Samantha would also often remind Chris that, after filming wrapped for her current role, she was planning to take the production studio's offer to provide the actress with liposuction, a tummy-tuck, a personal trainer/nutritionist, and any other help the actress needed to “become slim and beautiful again” for future roles. Whenever Samantha would remind Chris about this, Samantha would say something like. “I'm sorry, Chris. I know that you like me gaining weight, and would love me to stay fat. And if it was up to me, that's exactly what I'd do. You know how much I love food and hate exercise! But I have to think about what staying fat would do for my career! I don't want to let my fans down by blowing up like the Goodyear blimp permanently, you know? It's easier for you. The public doesn't care much about what you look like, or how much you weigh. So while my offer to help you lose weight too after the year is up still stands, I do think you'd make a very sexy fat man, and you don't have to get thin ever again if you don't want to! Unfortunately, I do have to lose weight after filming on this musical is over, or my career is finished!”

Chris tried to understand his girlfriend's position, he really did. But Samantha looked so great with the pounds she had already gained, that seeing the actress go back to her usual, thin self already seemed like a tragedy to the man. And the worst part was, after seeing Samantha jiggle her belly several times when she thought no one was looking, and playing with her bigger breasts on numerous occasions, Chris knew in his heart that Samantha was enjoying her larger body more than her formerly thin frame, as well. The dark-haired man's soul-mate was just too afraid of how the public, as well as TV and movie companies, would react if she decided to stay fat after she gained the amount of weight the film required. After all, one particularly seedy tabloid already claimed Samantha's body was “ballooning with fat!”, and Chris knew Samantha dreaded the attention she would get for becoming obese, even temporarily.

Darcy's words broke Chris out of his thoughts “Chris, did you hear anything I've just said? You Seem a little...distracted today, boss.”

Chris sighed. “Yeah, I am a little bit. Dating Samantha is great, it really is. But being a celebrity's soul mate can be exhausting sometimes, and I guess the pressure's been getting to me a bit. Anyway, I still caught most of what you said. Financial statements and other paperwork is in order, The matchmakers have most of today's implants covered and...what was that last part?”

Darcy sighed. “ The Darkassian twins are here. They flew all the way from New York City to get you to implant their timers!”

When Chris just gave Darcy a blank look, his friend/employee sighed and rolled her eyes. “Right. I forgot that you don't watch TV shows that aren't sci-fi or educational, unless they have your one in them. Anyway, the Darkassian twins are really famous models and reality TV stars. Funny, I thought those two party girls would never want to settle down, but I guess I was wrong, or they wouldn't be here. Anyway, I put them in room A, where we now put in implants in all our celebrity clients, seeing as that's become a tradition after you and Samantha were matched there. They specifically asked for you to put their timer implants in. “

Chris sighed. “That figures. Ever since I came back to work, after people calmed down about Samantha being my soulmate, celebrities have been coming out of the woodwork, in even greater numbers than before, to get their timers implanted in my store. I guess they realize that I have an even greater understanding of the value of discretion with celebrity clients, now that I know I'm destined to spend the rest of my life with one. Okay, I'll go implant their timers myself, if that's what they want. I just hope they don't except me to know who they are. Is there anything else?”

“Yeah.” Darcy, who had been having a whispered conversation with her boss concerning the celebrity clients of the day , lowered her voice even further, forcing Chris to tilt his ear slightly (but not uncomfortably) close to Darcy's mouth as she continued speaking. “The Darkassian twins have this thing were they share everything...And I do mean everything. So they'll probably be hoping that they'll have the same soul-mate. Be prepared for that.”

Chris rubbed his forehead. “Yeah, okay. Did you explain to them that 'two for one specials' are extremely rare? Like, a person is more likely to win the lottery three times in a row than to have more than one soulmate, rare? I have only seen one person come to this store who ended up having two soulmates!”

Darcy smiled and whispered. “Yes. You're friend Vanessa is a very lucky woman! First, she survives that little...incident that you told me about, then it turns out that not only is is her left arm still viable for a timer, but that she has two soulmates out there somewhere! How is your latest ex doing now, by the way? I bet she's glad you talked her into finally getting a timer!”

Chris smiled. “She really is! And she's doing great by the way, now that she knows she's going to run into both of her soulmates in less than two months! She was actually so grateful that I made her get a timer, that she had been coaching both me and Samantha  on what to eat to gain weight really fast!”

Darcy nodded. “I'm glad the three of you are all getting along. Samantha seems like a great person, and you'd told me a lot of good things about Vanessa when you were dating here, even though I only met her a couple times. However, we're getting off subject. I explained the odds against it to the Darkassian sisters, but they said they're both hoping to end up with someone who is, and I'm quoting Jen Darkassian here. 'Man enough for me, and my twin sister, Zoe!”

Chris sighed. “Great. Well, I'll be sure to let them down gently after their timers are put in.”

The manager/franchise owner then proceeded to room A, smiling despite himself as he did so, remembering that this was the location he had first met Samantha mere minutes before he found out his favorite celebrity was his soulmate. Even going over the implantation procedure, and injecting said timer implants, into the Darkassian twins, didn't dampen his spirits, as the sisters weren't nearly as annoying to talk to as Chris feared they would be. Sure, the models/heiresses (Chris found out this last part from the Darkassians conversations with each other while they were getting their timers implanted) seemed a bit air-headed, judging from their vocabulary, and the way the red-headed twins managed to fit the words “totally” or “fetch” into what felt like every other sentence. But the twins were nice enough, and they were smart enough to understand how the timer implants worked after only having the process explained to them once, so the whole procedure wasn't too painful for Chris. Furthermore, Zoe was even nice enough to tell Chris to “Totally give our best to Samantha for us! Jen and I have become huge fans of hers over the past three weeks, and we think the way that you and she met right here in this room, and found out you were each others soulmates minutes later, is so sweet! We've been following all of the news of your romance online, which we think is so fetch, and we're registered fans of your girlfriend on her website, and on twitter! So if she ever wants to do a collaboration with us at our modeling agency, let her know she can totally message us on Twitter, and we'll get right on that. She'd fit right right in modeling for our awesome new plus-sized clothing line!”

Chris just chuckled at the idea that the Darkassian twins thought that Samantha was “plus-sized” already, and wondered what they would think of his girlfriend/soulmate after she was seventy pounds larger than she was now. Trying to take Jen Darkassian's mind off of the pain as he prepared to implant the slightly older twin with her timer, Chris asked. “Just out of curiosity..how much of a range does your plus-sized line have?”

Jen smiled. “Well...Oh!” “ The elder twin flinched for just moment after her timer was put in, but quickly smiled when she saw she would meet her one in just one day shy of three years from the present day, which would give her and her sister plenty of time to party, and still find their (hopefully) mutual soulmate while they were still young. Jen then resumed speaking as Chris prepared Zoe's timer. “As I was saying, we haven't actually gotten our plus-sized line off the ground yet, and it's going to be an awesome surprise for the general public in a few months, so don't tell anybody besides Samantha! Anyway, it is Darkassian Incorporated's official position that all women are beautiful, so our plus-sized line will range from slightly voluptuous women, like Samantha, to girls with figures that have...more to love, all the way up to 400 pounds or so. Not that Zoe and I ever plan to get fat...I mean, bigger, ourselves...”

Zoe laughed nervously...”Of course not...Ow!” Zoe flinched, and covered her timer for a few seconds afterwards, afraid to look at the device right away. But eventually, the younger twin looked at her timer and sighed. “3 years, to the day, until I meet my one! I guess we don't have the same soulmate, sis! I'm sorry,Jen!”

Jen hugged her sister, and Chris wondered wondered whether he should leave the room during this weird “family moment” as the elder twin shook her head. “It's not your fault, Zoe! Hey, maybe your one and mine will be like...twin brothers, since we meet them only one day apart. Wouldn't that be so fetch?! Either way, I'm sure that we'll be able convince our two lucky soulmates that sharing is caring!”

Zoe smiled mischievously “I'm sure you're right! After all, pretty much the whole world knows by now that you and I share everything!”

Chris quickly explained about the twins payment schedule for their timers, and gratefully accepted their modeling agencies business card on Samantha's behalf, and stared putting away the implant equipment However, as he did so, he couldn't help but overhear the Darkassian twins rather odd conversation after Zoe pulled out a pair of large chocolate chip cookies...then handed them both to Jen while saying. “Here. You can have them both!”

Jen had shook her head. “Why?! We were both supposed to eat an awesome celebratory cookie after getting our timers implanted!”

Zoe sighed. “I know, but that was before I found out I'm going to meet my one in only three years. I'm already five pounds heavier than you, sis.” Zoe patted her washboard stomach, which was barely distinguishable from Jen's. “I mean...nothing against big girls...but I don't want to get fat. I doubt my one will like it if I pork out on him before we even get to meet.”

Jen nodded sympathetically, but Chris couldn't suppress an eye roll, and Zoe immediately picked up on it. “You have a more fetch opinion, Chris?”

Chris shrugged. “It's not my place to..”

Jen shook her head. “No, we want to hear what you think. Everybody always tells me and my sister what we want to hear, it would be nice to hear an opposing opinion, for a change.”

Chris nodded. “Okay, but remember, you asked for this. Zoe, I don't think you, or your sister, need to worry about your weight for the next three years...or ever, for that matter. Whoever you two get matched up with will be your soulmates, and they will end up loving you forever no matter what you two look like when you meet them. That's guaranteed. Even if one of you does get...bigger. So basically, by the time you two meet your soulmates, the two of you will either be slender, or at least, not fat, no matter what you eat...or you'll get fat, but your soulmates will turn out to be, I believe the popular terms is “chubby chasers”, so it won't matter, especially since you could just keep taking Lipidpro if that happens.”

Seeing the confused looks on the Darkassian twins' faces, Chris waived his hand, sure that his oversimplified predictions of the future had gone over the fashion models heads. “You know what, forget what I just sa...”

Zoe shook her head while smiling and grabbing one of the cookies out her sister's hands. “No. What you just said was so smart, actually. Don't you think so, Jen?”

Jen smiled as she watched her sister eat a bite from her cookie, and after doing the same for her treat, the elder twin smiled at Chris. “It totally was. Thanks for helping us chill out, Chris!”

Zoe looked down at her cookie and added. “You know what, sis?! This awesome cookie, and all the other delicious food we never have, tastes like I want to get fat! I was thinking of shooting for a chubby chaser soulmate in three years! But, you know, only if that's okay with you.”

Jen nodded. “That's fine with me. Just one thing, I'm still planning on us sharing our ones one day, and that's not really going to work if you nab yourself a chubby chaser husband in three years, and I'm still skinny. But wouldn't it be so fetch if we got fat together?!”

Zoe clapped her hands excitedly, took another bite of her cookie, then exclaimed. “I was hoping you would say that! We've both always hated diet food and exercise. And daddy won't care if we get fat. He lets us do whatever we want, as long as it's not illegal. If he does give us hell over it, we'll just tell him we're gaining weight together to market our plus-sized line! He won't be able to say no to the publicity that move will bring our family's company! Let's get fat so we can bag us a couple of chubby chaser husbands in three years! Next stop, finishing these delicious cookies, and paying for our timers! And right after that, the nearest buffet! Thanks for the great advice, Chris!”

Chris just stopped himself from rolling his eyes and smiled as the two excited twins waived at him as they went to pay for their timers at the front of the store. He couldn't help but think to himself that he had just unleashed two monsters upon the world. Two monster that would soon get very,very fat!

Chris' thoughts were interrupted by a text he received from Samantha. After reading the text in question, Chris' face paled a little as he ran to the front of his store to talk to Darcy. “Hey Darcy, something important suddenly came up! Would you mind watching the store by yourself for rest of the day!?”

Darcy smiled. “Off course, Chris. What are friends for? What's going on exactly?”

Chris gulped, as the Darkassian sisters, who were still at the front desk, were looking at Chris curiously as they nibbled the last few bites of their cookies with one hand, and prepared to deliver Twitter messages with the other. Chris sighed as he realized that the news he had just gotten would probably go public soon anyway, so it might as well be his soulmate's (probable) future business partners who leaked the news to the public first. “Samantha's parents just arrived in town!”

.Later on, in Chris' car...

Samantha sighed from the passenger seat of her vehicle as Chris was driving her to the airport. “I can't believe you told the Darkassian twins my parents were coming into town today! Thanks to their Twitter message to all their fans, they're probably going to get mobbed by reporters as soon as they get off the plane in LAX!”

Chris sighed. “I know! That was stupid, and I'm sorry! I didn't realize that those two had so many followers! Hell, I barely use Twitter myself, and even then, only for business, so their was no way for me to know that! But look, I was just trying to build rapport with two celebrities that I though could be potential business partners of yours. I'm sticking my neck out to do that, by the way, because the business ethics of helping my soulmate and two of my clients do business could be called into question by the board of directors at TIMER Inc. And I wasn't thinking clearly because your parents suddenly decided to come into town today, instead of tomorrow, like they originally planned!”

Samantha sighed, then patted Chris' right knee affectionately “First of all, my parents didn't fly in early, I was just so busy with shooting for my film that I got the day of their arrival mixed up. I'm really sorry about that, and about springing this on you at the last minute!And....I forgive you for telling the Darkassian twins my parents were coming into town, and I'm sorry I overreacted about that.. You were trying to do something nice for me, for my career, which I doubt your dad, who loves that I'm your soulmate, will take you to task for, and I bit your head off for it. I shouldn't have done that. And I know that you didn't mean to cause my parents grief. But I now realize I need to teach you more about pop culture, and the perils of being a celebrity, if you're going to marry one someday.”

Samantha gasped as she put her hand to her mouth. “Shit! I'm sorry, I can't believe I just said that out loud, especially so early in our...”

Chris couldn't suppress a large belly laugh at that moment. Samantha frowned at him. “My words may have been premature, but they're not funny, Chris! Other than the timers, my ex not wanting to ever get married was one of the reasons Taylor and I broke up! If you can't respect my feeling about matrimony, than...”

Chris shook his head and smiled. “It's not like that at all, I want to marry you, Samantha! Someday, when you're ready for that step.. Because I really like you already, and I've enjoyed dating you, and living together, until you moved into your new place my parents set up for you yesterday, to appease my mom, and your more conservative parents. And I also enjoy some of the other things we do together...”

Hearing Chris's suggestive tone, and seeing the smirk on the man's face, Samantha blushed, then lightly smacked her soulmates arm. “You are such a man to bring up sex into a serious conversation like this!”

A second later, however, Samantha grinned wickedly. “But I will admit our sex life is pretty damn great! You're definitely the best lover of my life!”

Chris smiled, then, as his car reached a place where traffic had come to a standstill on the highway, he put his foot firmly on the break, then turned to Samantha and grinned. “Good. Because I feel the same way about you!”

Samantha sighed. “I know, but...what am I going to tell my dad when he asks us whether you and I have been having sex already!? My dad is super overprotective, but up until a year ago, when he and my mom stopped visiting me in LA because they were so upset about me living in sin with Taylor so long...my dad and were really close. And I...I miss him, and my mother, and my sisters so much! I want to have my family back in my life! That's why I really want them to like you, but I'm not sure if they will if they find out we've been having sex after only being together for a month!”

Chris shrugged. “Than just don't tell them. Quite frankly, it's not really their business anyway. And don't worry. I want your family to like me as well, so I will do my best to make a good impression with your parents. But I guarantee you that your family will still love you, even if they hate me. You said it yourself, many times, that it was Taylor they couldn't stand, never you. I mean, your parents still called you all the time, even after they stopped visiting you in person for awhile, and they kept exchanging gifts with you via mail on Christmas and birthdays, so it's not like they ever disowned you or anything! And I think it's very telling that your parents started planning this trip to LA to see you right after you told them you broke up with Taylor. Your family misses you too, Samantha! So I will do everything within my power to make sure that you can see your parents and sisters more often from now on, even if that means spending a lot of time with my future in-laws. All you have to do to help me is not tell your parents you and I lived together for awhile, or that we're having sex.”

Samantha sighed. “That's easier said than done. I've never been able to keep a secret from my dad for very long. And if he asks me, directly, if you and I are having sex, which knowing him, he will...I don't think I can lie to my dad about something that important. Maybe that sounds pathetic to you, but my family is really close, and my parents have made a lot of sacrifices, financially and otherwise, to give me and my sisters a good upbringing, then make me a star In Hollywood. I can't repay their sacrifices, or their love, with deception. I don't expect you to understand...”

Chris shook his head. “No, I understand completely, and that's not pathetic at all. My parents, especially my dad, may be more liberal than yours, but we're still a pretty close family, despite living on opposite sides of the country, you've seen proof of that yourself. My parents made sacrifices for me as well, and I dare say I love them just as much as you love your parents. And I'm not really good at lying to them, either. So, yeah, I understand. And if your dad asks...that question, you don't have to lie to him, although I don't know how things with your folks will go down if you tell them the truth, either.”

Samantha sighed. “But what if the truth makes my family ashamed of me?”

Chris shrugged. “Honestly, I don't think it will. Like I said, your parents obviously still love you, despite the fact that you lived with someone they really didn't like for three years. Besides...”

Chris gulped, and he was kind of glad that traffic had resumed flowing, so he was forced to watch the road as he said. “If your father asks that question, if you decide to tell him the truth, you can also assure him that your boyfriend, your soulmate, loves you very much, and that he...that I have nothing but honorable intentions towards you, and that I fully intend to marry you as soon as you are ready to walk down the aisle with me...”

Samantha gasped. “Do you...mean everything you just said? About loving me, and being in love with me...all of it?!”

Chris smiled. “I meant every word. I...I was nervous, about how you would react if I told you I loved you, before you said those words to me. Especially after how things went down between me and Vanessa. Anyway, my dad always said it was a bad idea for a man to say those three words first...”

Samantha smiled, despite being frustrated that she couldn't kiss her boyfriend right now, since he was still driving. “Well clearly, your dad doesn't know everything, Chris Bartlett! Because I've been in love you with too, ever since we had our first kiss! But I was nervous about scaring you off, so I didn't say anything...”

Chris chuckled again. “Life is just full of little ironies for us, isn't it? I mean, our timers going off together less than a week before I was going to propose to someone else, us falling in love with each other at the exact same moment, and both of us trying to hide our feelings for each other because we were afraid of what each other would think!”

Samantha shrugged. “Does it really matter? What's important is that you and I love each other, and now, we both know it!”

Samantha squeezed Chris' leg lightly as she whispered into his ear. “And if you behave yourself around my parents this evening, maybe we can express that love for each other in a more...physical way later tonight.”

Chris nodded enthusiastically “Sounds like a good plan to me!”

Samantha laughed at her boyfriends words, but as the next few minutes passed in silence, Chris could tell something was bothering his girlfriend, as he kept catching glimpses of her frowning out of the corner of his eye. However, before Chris had mustered up enough courage to ask Samantha what was bothering her, the couple arrived at the airport. And it was only several minutes after that, when the actress and her boyfriend were safely situated in a private waiting area, clad in their disguises for public outings (a blonde wig and shades for Samantha, and a hat and another pair of shades for Chris) that Chris felt he could ask Samantha what was wrong....in between mouthfuls of the sub sandwiches the couple were now eating together, which they had bought before heading to the airport “Hey, Samantha? We've still got an hour to kill before your parents flight arrives, so I just wanted to know, what's still bothering you? I know you're nervous about seeing your parents again, but this feels like something else...”

Samantha sighed, then, after slowly taking the last bite of her sandwich, then slowly chewing and swallowing, the actress said. “I was hoping you wouldn't pick up on that, but...Were you serious, when you said you would be willing to get married as soon as I was ready to tie the knot, or where you just saying that was something I should tell my parents to make you look good?”

Chris smiled, slowly ate the last bite of his sandwich, then replied. “I meant every word. I know that's crazy, being ready to marry you, at the drop of a hat, after you and I have only dated one month, but our relationship has been a really fast, really crazy one already, hasn't it? And I wouldn't have it any other way! Because I love you, Samantha! I love your body, but I also love how smart you are, and how your sense of humor, and a lot of your interests, compliment mine. I love spending time with you, I love that we've already lived together, already made love, because spending that much time with you has let me know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that I want to marry you someday. I want you, Samantha Vantras, my soulmate, by my side, forever. Whenever you'll have me, I'm yours!”

Samantha smiled and tried not to cry.”Wow. That's just...amazing! Look, Chris, I know when you just said that, that you were probably visualizing me wanting to marry you several years from now, and I don't expect you to already have a ring, or anything...”

Chris smirked. “I'll have you know, Miss Vantras, that I did buy a ring already! I actually bought it shortly after we met. Because I knew that the timers are always right...but I also knew that I already had strong feelings for you from the first time I laid eyes on you. So naturally, I prepared accordingly.”

Samantha gulped. “Really, you bought a ring that long ago?” After Chris nodded, Samantha smiled nervously. “Ok, good. Because, remember how I told you about that other romantic comedy that I auditioned for, Pacific Islander? The one that is going to be produced by the same film studio as “I Love New York”, the musical I'm filming right now and getting fat for? Well, good news, bad news. Good news is, I got the part! As soon as I get liposuction and a tummy-tuck after filming this movie, they want to start shooting the 'lonely fat girl' part of the movie with me, where the main character, Erin, gets depressed and gains a lot of weight after her boyfriend cheats on, then breaks up with her. After I lose the rest of the weight, I'll act out the parts at the beginning and end of the film, where Erin is skinny.”

Chris forced a smile. “That all sounds like good news to me!” Truth be told, Chris was excited for the opportunities that were opening up for Samantha lately. He knew that his one getting two lead role contracts in a row from a major movie studio would be a huge boon for Samantha's career, and that it would only be a short jump from their to Samantha finally becoming an “A List Celebrity” in Hollywood, just as his soulmate had always dreamed of doing. And he didn't even mind that his soulmate was often expected to kiss actors on film, or pretend to have sex with them for love scenes...too much. Chris had been required to kiss actresses on stage during high school productions, during the same time he had been dating Darcy, so Chris knew that such kisses didn't mean anything, and were part of the territory with acting. So as long as Samantha kept to her and Chris' deal that she would never kiss anyone else, except for rehearsals and filming, and that she would not do anything that could be considered pornographic for a TV or movie studio, conditions Samantha had been all too happy to agree to, Chris knew he could live with his soulmate's fictional personas' romantic excursions.

However, the fact that Samantha would have to lose weight for her future movie role was disappointing to Chris, who found Samantha's currently ballooning figure sexier every day as she gained weight. And Chris knew that part of Samantha liked packing on the pounds too. Still, Chris understood that losing weight was a sacrifice that his one would have to make for the sake of her acting career, and the man did not want to make things harder for his girlfriend by protesting about her inevitable weight loss in the future.

Samantha wasn't fooled, however, and the woman sighed before she said. “Liar. I know you're not thrilled about me losing weight after I'm done filming this movie, and I”m not to thrilled about dieting and exercising again either. But thank you for trying to be supportive of my career anyway. Acting is important to me, and I'm glad you understand that I have to make sacrifices for my craft sometimes. However, I will see if can convince the studio to let me stop losing weight after I'm fifteen to twenty pounds heavier than when I started gaining. I know that wouldn't be much for a chub...I mean, a fat admirer such as yourself, but it's something, isn't it? And like I said before, at least you can still get as fat as you want!”

Chris nodded halfheartedly. “Sure. Sounds great.”

Samantha sighed. “I wish I could give you more than that, Chris. I wish I could stay fat for you. But my career, and my financial situation, won't allow for it!”

Chris half-smiled at Samantha. “I know that. And I know acting makes you happy. So if you need to lose weight to keep pursuing your passion in the future, I fully support that. I would love you at any size, and that includes petite. But I will certainly enjoy having more of you to love as long as I can!”

Samantha smiled. “Please do! It's nice to know that someone appreciates this...” Samantha patted her growing potbelly. “As much as I enjoy this!” Samantha then patted Chris' smaller belly

Samantha and Chris quietly chuckled for several seconds before Samantha added. “But actually,my current efforts to gain weight, and my subsequent weight loss, aren't the bad news I was referring to concerning my next job. Like the name implies, “Pacific Islander” takes placed along a chain of islands in the Pacific ocean, and that's where they're going to be filming the movie a few weeks after “I Love New York” wraps...for about a year. And I obviously don't want to be away from you that long. However, I wouldn't feel right asking you to quite your job to follow me to the Pacific...but I would feel differently if you were my husband. Besides, the studio is covering travel, food and lodging expenses for the cast and crew...and their immediate families...”

Chris nodded. “And I suppose immediate family includes spouses? Is that what this is about Samantha? Do you only want to get married out of convenience, so you don't have to pay for my travel expenses?”

Samantha shook her head rapidly. “You know damn well that's what I meant! I love you, Chris! After only being with you for a month, I'm already more in love with you then I've ever been with anyone else, and I believe, I know, that you feel the same way about me, and that our feelings for each other will only grow stronger over time. Knowing that...the thought of not seeing you for a whole year...it's more than I could bear! Even living alone now, after living with you for a month, really sucks! I actually cried a little this morning, when I woke up in a bed, and for the first time in a month, you weren't there with me...”

Chris sighed. “I'm sorry, Samantha. I didn't know that you felt that way,, although I didn't like waking up without you this morning,either. I should have put my foot down with my parents and told them you and I were going to keep living together...”

Samantha sighed. “No. I think this is a good thing. As much as I enjoyed living with you...I think it's a good thing that we spend time as an ordinary couple, having our own places while still seeing each other every day. But that's the thing, being able to see you everyday makes spending our nights apart at least bearable. And that made me realize something today: I want to see you, everyday, in person, for the rest of my life. I love you too much to ever want to spend a whole day apart from you. If that isn't reason enough for me to want to get married, then I don't know what is!”

Chris smiled. “Okay. Now that...that is a good reason to want us to get married! And I feel the same way about you so...”

Chris pulled a small black box out of his back pocket and knelled down on one knee in front of Samantha. The man chuckled as Samantha gasped and put her hand over her mouth as her boyfriend pulled out a white gold ring with a diamond carved in the shape of a star as he spoke. “I was actually going to ask you this later, because you told me your parents had old fashioned values, and I thought I should ask your dad's permission to marry you first, but since you brought the subject of marriage up...”

Samantha laughed. “Don't worry, my parents aren't that old fashioned!”

Chris chuckled. “Good. So, I think I already know your answer, but...Samantha Vantras, my one and only soulmate for all time, my guiding star...” Samantha laughed at the obvious double meaning before Chris continued speaking. “Will you marry me?!”

Samantha cried happy tears as she nodded. “Yes! I absolutely will marry you, Chris Bartlett!”

Chris put the ring on Samantha's left hand, then got up off the ground to kiss his fiancee passionately, and Samantha responded in kind. As Chris and Samantha's osculation continued for over a minute, someone outside their private meeting room let out a cheer, and at some point, that someone (who had apparently seen through Chris and Samantha's disguise) shouted. “Hey everyone, Chris Bartlett just asked Samantha Vantras to marry him!” This, off course, caused a bunch of people, some with cameras, to rush into the conference room while shouting “Congratulations!” and taking pictures of the famous couple.

Realizing their cover had been blown, Chris and Samantha finally pulled themselves out of their kiss, chuckled, then pulled off their disguises before Samantha held up her hand for the crowd to see, causing the people around them to applaud loudly for one of Hollywood's most famous “It couples.'

….A little while later...

Thankfully, the particular crowd that had gathered around Chris and Samantha that evening was one of the tamer mobs of people the couple had encountered, and they let Chris and Samantha go after they bribed Samantha's fans to go away with several autographs from the newly engaged couple. Soon afterwards, Chris and Samantha were able to meet Samantha's parents at the baggage claim area. Immediately upon spotting her parents, however, Samantha noticed their were some things that were very different about them.

Clark Vantras still had the same dark hair and blue eyes that Samantha remembered, and Gabriella Vantras still had the same blonde hair and green eyes, but the middle-aged couple's appearance was a far cry from the parents Samantha remembered in many other respects. For one thing, the older couple was dressed more casually than the starlet had ever seen them, as Samantha's mother and father were both wearing jeans and a t-shirt instead of their usual outfits of a button-down shirt and slacks for Clark, and a dress for Gabriella. Furthermore, to Samantha's great surprise, the actress spotted two LED screens on both of her parents' left arms, although the actress wasn't able to spot what numbers, if any, where on the two timers. Samantha quickly pushed her surprise, curiosity and worry concerning her parents' new timers aside, however, when her mom finally spotted the starlet.

Gabriella waived at her daughter. “Samantha! It's so good to see you!”

Clark smiled and added. “Yes, it's so good to see you again, Sammy! And It's nice to meet you too, Chris!”

While Chris shook her father's hand, Samantha smiled and said. “It's so good to see you two again, too!” The actress and her mother then drew each other into a hug...and the starlet couldn't help but notice that there was a lot more of her to hug these days. Although Gabriella Vantras had always been fat, at least as long as Samantha could remember, the actress's mom had apparently grown absolutely massive since her daughter had last seen her. However, Samantha really wasn't bothered by the fact that her mom had shot from her previous record of 350 pounds, up to what appeared to be the mom's current size of over 400 pounds. In fact, the actress found that her mom, who, being the fattest person in the Vantras family, naturally gave the best hugs, looked even better at her new weight. Somehow, Samantha noted, the fact that the Vantras' matriarch now sported a triple belly, instead of a double, three chins instead of two, and a bigger butt, breasts, and limbs only made Gabriella look more feminine and jolly, and the wide smile on the older woman's face only reinforced this impression. However, before Samantha could think about what, if anything, she should say about her mom's weight gain, the older woman reluctantly pulled away from her daughter and patted her own belly. “I know, you don't have to say it! I can see from the look on your face that you've noticed I've grown even more  
massive then before! What can I say? You know how much I love to eat!”

Clark, who Samantha suddenly noticed had gained a significant amount of weight as well (a fact the actress had overlooked while she had been examining how big her mother had gotten) smiled, an action which caused the man's plump cheeks and beginning of a double chin to become more pronounced on his face, and said.”That's okay, Gabby! The looks suits you! You know I enjoy having more of you to love now! And it's not like anyone can blame you for getting big when you're such an amazing cook! After all, your culinary expertise have certainly done a number on me!”

Samantha's eyes widened as her father, who had always been thin in all the years his daughter had been able to see him, patted the large spare tire that the man now sported on his torso. Not only was Samantha taken aback by the fact that her father, who had been a rather thin man throughout most of her childhood, was now a fat man with a large belly, plumber face, limbs, and butt, and even the beginning sighs of moobs were his pics used to be, she was also surprised at the way that her parents were openly discussing their attraction to each other, their weight, and how much they had been eating...all of which had been taboo topics in the Vantras household when Samantha had been growing up. For this reason, Samantha had never realized, until this very moment, that far from just putting up with his wife's size because he loved her personality, Clark Vantras actually loved his wife's fat body. This revelation was soon followed up by another shocking development, however, when Gabriella patted her husband's newly fattened belly and smiled as she said. “Finally! I'm so glad that you've actually allowed yourself to enjoy decent portions of my food over the last year! I loved you when you were thin, but I much prefer how you look now that you are my chubby hubby!”

Samantha and Chris shot a quick glance towards each other and smiled as they realized that Samantha's parents were not much different from them...at least in the sense that they were both fat admirers who enjoyed seeing each other grow fatter. Apparently, this similarity was not lost on the elder Vantras' either, as Clark looked pointedly towards Samantha's potbelly and smiled. “I see me and your mother are not the only members of this family who have been eating well lately!”

Samantha blushed deep red and looked down in embarrassment “Dad!”

Gabriella Vantras shook her head. “Don't get us wrong, dear. We think it's wonderful that you're eating well now! I guess your new boyfriend is feeding you well, unlike Taylor, who never let you eat any of the dishes I prepared for you whenever we visited you at his apartment?”

Chris shrugged. “I do my best.”

Samantha smiled. “Chris is being way to modest! He's an excellent cook, almost as good as you, mom! And I will admit, it's nice having a boyfriend that encourages me to eat to my heart's content, instead of dieting all the time...even if Chris does have to practically roll me to my car after every meal!”

Clark smiled at Chris. “I see. Chris, are you trying to fatten up my daughter?!”

Chris gulped. “Well...I, um...I'd be lying if I said I didn't like how your daughter looks now, but..um...'

Clark laughed. “Because if you are, I completely support that!”

Samantha blushed harder. “Dad...don't do this again...”

Gabriella shook her head. “I'm sorry, Samantha, but your father and I still stand by our assertion that you were much too thin last time we saw you! So if your soulmate is encouraging you to eat more sensibly, like a real woman, not a little girl, than your father and I are all too happy to entourage that! Especially since Chris is obviously such a good cook!” Gabriella pointed to Chris' slightly pudgy belly.“Never trust a skinny cook! Right Chris?”

Chris blushed. “Yeah...I guess I have been indulging in my own cooking a bit more than usual lately...”

Samantha smiled and squeezed Chris hand as she led the man towards the parking garage, with her parents trailing not to far behind. “And that's a good thing! Your cooking is really good, Chris! It would be a shame to deprive yourself of the fruits of your labor! Besides, I think the new pounds suite you! It's kind of nice to have a chubby fiancee!”

Samantha put her hand to her mouth as she realized what she had just said, but by that point, it was already too late. Gabriella's eyes quickly drifted towards Samantha's left hand and the large woman gasped, then, just as the older and younger couple both reached Chris' car, the Vantras matriarch exclaimed. “What a beautiful ring! Why didn't you tell me that you and Chris were already engaged?!”

Chris chuckled. “That would be my fault. I sort of sprung the proposal on your daughter at the airport, less than an hour before I could meet you and your husband!”

Clark frowned. “Chris, I'm glad that your intentions towards my daughter are honorable, but don't you think you and Samantha are moving a little fast?!”

Gabriella shook her head. “Now, Clark, our daughter just got engaged, don't ruin the moment by raining on her parade! Besides, you know as well as I do that if Samantha and Chris' timers match, that means their love is going to last, just like ours!”

The Vantras matriarch showed off her zeroed out timer to her daughter and future son-in law just before everyone got into the vehicle, and Clark smiled, nodded and did the same after everyone had gotten into the vehicle. Samantha gasped “ So you and mom did get timers! But...you wouldn't let me get one when I was fourteen! You told me you didn't even believe in...”

Clark sighed, and all eyes were on the older man as he spoke. “We didn't, before. But...your mother and I...we started fighting a lot, about a year ago. It got so bad, at one point, that...I think Gabby started doubting her decision to marry me.”

Gabriella shook her head. “I never said that...”

Clark shrugged. “No. That's true. You never actually said that, but I feared we were heading for a divorce.”

Clark turned back to Samantha. “Anyway, out of desperation, and after doing lots of research on them...I decided that you mother and I should get timers, because I wanted her to have scientific confirmation of what I already knew, you know...” Clark pointed towards his chest. “In here. That your mom and I belonged together.”

Gabriella smiled at her husband. “You didn't need to do that, but I though it was very sweet that you were willing to go the extra mile to prove our love was real.”

Gabriella turned towards Samantha.”Anyway, after convincing me that they were legitimate, your father and both got timers, and they confirmed what we both already knew in our hearts, that we were each others soulmates!”

Clark grinned. “Yeah, that really took a load of my mind, knowing that your mother and I are destined to be together forever! Anyway, after our timers went off at the same time, we asked the matchmaker who gave us our timers why we were having marital problems when we were soulmates, and he referred us this excellent marriage counselor who helped us see that your mother and I needed to be less serious, spend more quality time together, and just have more fun in our lives! As you can see, we've taken his advice, and I, for one, have definitely been enjoying myself a lot more lately!”

Clark shook his large belly, causing everyone in the car to laugh, before Gabriella playfully patted her own bigger belly and said. “We both have. And we're happier for it! Oh, and Samantha, the most wonderful thing has happened recently! We convinced your big sister, Ally, who's never had much luck in the dating department because of her lack of self confidence, and the fact that so many men are shallow and won't even give her the time of day just because she weighs over five hundred pounds, to get a timer a couple months ago, and lately, her timer activated itself! She's going to find her destiny in less than two months! Chris, the company you work for really is wonderful! It helped me and my husband get our marriage on track, and now it's helped my little girls find the loves of their life! Timer Inc. is amazing!”

Clark grunted. “I'm not so sure about that! No offense, Chris, you seem like a good guy and all, and if the timers say you and Samantha are soulmates, than I believe that, and I hope you and my daughter have a happy life together! And I certainly believe the timers when they say me and my wife are soulmates!” Clark grinned at Gabriella before he continued speaking. “But...I'm really not comfortable with what Ally's timer says! I don't care that she has two clocks on her timer counting down to the same day, less then two months from now! I don't think it's right for a person to have two soulmates!”

Chris and Samantha, who knew very well what day Vanessa's timer was counting down to, looked at each other in shock and understanding. They both knew there was no way that the apparent match between Vanessa, an unknown third party, and Ally's timers could be a coincidence. However, neither of Samantha's parents noticed the look the younger couple shared as Gabriella replied to her husband. “Don't be so prudish, Clark!The matchmaker said our oldest daughter is ridiculously lucky to have two soulmates! Isn't that right, Chris?!”

Chris nodded, trying to remain as neutral on the topic as he could, while still being truthful about how the timers worked. “Well, having two soulmates is really rare. From what I remember from reading the employee handbook, the odds of having more than one 'one' is less than one in a hundred million.”

Gabriella smiled smugly toward her husband. “See, Clark! It's a miracle! For thirty five years, Ally couldn't find a man to love her, and very soon, she's going to have two men that will love her for the rest of her life!

“Or two women.” Samantha suddenly interjected.

Clark sighed. “Not this, again! Like your mom and I have stated before, just because your sister isn't so good at flirting with men, doesn't mean she's a lesbian!”

Samantha shrugged. “No, but you have to admit, she hasn't shown as much interest in men as me or my younger sister, Abby, have, or any at all, really. All I know is, I will continue to support Ally no matter what gender her soulmates turn out to be!”

Gabriella nodded. “Me too. Talking to our counselor has opened my eyes to a lot of different things. One of the things counseling has helped us realize is that your father and I may have tried to hard to push some of our values on you and your sisters, and that's caused you all some level of harm. And I am so sorry about that. I realize know that your little sister Abby wouldn't have run away for three weeks as a teenager if your father and I wouldn't have been so judgmental about her having making love with her boyfriend at the time, who she eventually ended up marrying and having kids with anyway.! Plus, as we recently found out, Abby and John's timers match!And I doubt you would have kept living with Taylor for more than a year if you dad and I hadn't demanded that you move out from his apartment after he wouldn't propose to you!”

Samantha sighed. “Staying with Taylor was my bad decision, not yours.”

Clark sighed. “But you probably would have broken up with him earlier if your mother and I hadn't demanded you do that very thing, right?! Weren't you rebelling again your mother and I for being so disapproving and overly controlling? What did that counselor call it? Oh yeah, the Romeo and Juliet effect.”

Samantha sighed. “There...may be some truth to that. But it was still my choice to continue to live with Taylor after it was clear he didn't want to get married like I did.”

Gabriella sighed. “Still, you father and I feel partially responsible for you being in a doomed relationship so long. Who knows? If we hadn't pushed you to break up with Taylor, you might have done so a lot sooner, and met your soulmate here...” The Vantras matriarch smiled pleasantly at Chris. “Then! And lately, I've been wondering if you're right, Samantha, about Ally being a lesbian. If maybe...she's been hiding that part of herself, because she knows that, in the past, me and your father haven't been...supportive, of people who live that lifestyle, to say the least. But...after your father and I did research on timers, we found out that many people with timers have turned out to have same-sex soulmates, and since the timers are never wrong...”

Clark sighed from his space in the backseat of Chris car, where he sat next to his wife. “What your mother and I are trying to say is...She and I are still good, churchgoing folks, but...Since science has proven that gay and lesbian soulmates are a real thing...we've been forced to...reinterpret some of our old beliefs lately. I still don't think your sister's a lesbian, Samantha, but if she is, if her soulmates, or even just one of them, are women, well...Your mother and I will accept that, and we won't love your big sister any less for it!”

Samantha grinned at her parents. “Good!”

Clark turned to Chris. “Chris, I know that we aren't in a hurry to go anywhere in particular, especially since you and my daughter both have tomorrow off from work, but I'm starting to get hungry! Can you please start driving to Samantha's new house so that we can make some decent food, soon?!”

Chris blushed after realizing he had been so caught up in his fiancee's discussion with her parents, he had forgotten to drive away from the airport. After the young man drove out of the garage and paid his parking fee, however, Clark Vantras brought up another topic of conversation while Chris was still driving out of the airport. “So, Chris. Samantha told my wife and I over the phone that you attend church with her every Sunday. Is that true?”

Chris nodded. “That's correct. I want to be as supportive of Samantha's beliefs as I can. And your daughter and I have decided that, when and if we have kids, we'll let them attend services when they are growing up as well.” Chris felt it would be both unnecessary and counter-productive to mention that the church he and Samantha attended in LA was far more liberal than the elder Vantras' house of worship. In addition to welcoming people from the LGBT community (which was important to Samantha, since Ally had long ago told Samantha she was a lesbian), Samantha's place of worship also didn't have any concept of eternal torment, and believed that all people would one day find their way to God.

Clark Vantras interrupted Chris' thoughts as he nodded and said. “Well, that's good. What about you, Chris? Do you come from a church-going background?”

Samantha huffed and crossed her arms. “Dad, please don't don't this again!”

Clark shook his head. “Wait? It's a simple question. I'm just curious about Chris' religious background, is all!”

Gabriella sighed. “I thought we had agreed we weren't going to ask Chris these kinds of personal questions, honey.”

Chris shook his head and kept his eyes on the road. “It's okay. I'll answer the question. I guess I kind of grew up in a church environment. My mom is Roman Catholic, and my dad let her take me to mass every Sunday when I was little, even though he didn't personally attend, since he's...Agnostic, I think. And like I said, I go to church every Sunday with your daughter.”

Clark nodded. “I see. So you're Catholic, or...”

Samantha sighed heavily, put her head in her hands, and whispered, “I'm so sorry, Chris.”

Chris smiled and mouthed, “It's okay.” To his fiancee, then answered his soon to be father in-law's question. “Actually, I'm more of a...I guess open theist is the word. I believe in some kind of higher power, and I don't think the world is here by accident. I mean, the existence of soulmates proves that much. But other than that, I don't really know who, or what, is behind everything, so I try to respect everyone's religious traditions. That being said, I do believe in treating people how I wanted to be treated, and I give to charity regularly, so...I hope that's enough of an answer for you, Mr. Vantras.”

Clark smiled and shrugged. “Well...at least you believe in something! And you go to church! That's a hell of a lot more than could be said for Taylor!”

Samantha glared at her dad slightly. “Dad!”

Gabriella smiled and shrugged. “Samantha, your father may stick his nose in other people business a little too much...”

The Vantras matriarch gave her husband a glare, causing the older man to hang his head low and say. “Sorry, dear.” before his wife turned back toward their daughter and added. “But I think your dad has a point. Taylor was never supportive of your beliefs, never went to church with you, and he often told anyone who would listen that he thought 'All religions are stupid.' Your father and I just glad that you're with someone who actually supports your beliefs. That's all!”

Samantha sighed in relief and briefly squeezed Chris' hand, which was on the steering wheel, then smiled at her fiancee. “Me too. Chris has been great, in that, and a lot of other ways! And I will admit it's much easier to be with someone that isn't always attacking my spiritual beliefs! But can we please not talk about my ex again for the rest of the evening?!”

Gabriella Vantras smiled, once again showing off her double chin and the dimples on her chubby cheeks as she did so. “Of course, dear. Whatever you want”

The rest of the evening went rather well, as Chris, Samantha and the elder Vantras' all talked and laughed about their work and their personal lives all the way to Samantha's house. Soon after arriving at Samantha's new place, while the elder Vantras were getting settled into the guest room, Chris set about making a large dinner for himself, his girlfriend and her parents which consisted of a whole chicken for each of them, loaded baked potatoes, mixed vegetables covered in butter and salt, and dinner rolls cooked in butter. When Gabriella Vantras found out Chris was cooking for everyone, however, she made her way into the kitchen and insisted on helping. “I generally do all the cooking for my family, and I'm very good at it!” The Vantras matriarch boasted. “Please let me lend a hand, Chris. You wouldn't want to make an old woman feel useless would you?”

Chris sighed. “I guess not. Sure, I guess you can help. Can you pass me the butter, please?”

As it turned out, Gabriella made an excellent assistant cook, proficient at setting timers, giving food items just the right amount of seasoning, and pulling items in and out of the oven at just the right time. Furthermore, Gabriella's eldetic memory made her a wiz at remembering food recipes. Despite all this, however, the Vantras matriarch admitted that she didn't have as much of a gift for improvisation, or cooking by feel, as Chris did, and by the time the veritable feast they had prepared together was done, the Vantras matriarch smelled everything, then turned to Chris and said. “You did an amazing job making this wonderful meal, Chris! I'm sure everything will taste wonderful!”

Chris shrugged. “I hope so. In any case, I didn't cook all of this by myself, you helped out a lot! Thank you!”

Gabriella shook her head. “No need to thank me. All I did was follow instructions. You were the mastermind behind this wonderful meal! Besides, I never could have come up the combination of spices you used for the chickens. That was genius! I'm just glad that Samantha's soulmate is a good cook! My daughter is an amazing actress and dancer, but...” Gabriella lowered her voice to make sure no one outside the kitchen could hear her. “Samantha's hopeless in the kitchen. I swear, that girl must have lived on take out food and frozen dinners before she met you!”

Chris smiled. “From what Samantha's told me, that's not far from the truth. Now, I think the food is cooled enough to serve. Shall we see what your husband and daughter think of the feast we've prepared for them?”

As it turned out, everyone thought the food was delicious, and many compliments to the chefs, or exclamations of, 'This is delicious!” Were made concerning the culinary fare that was served that evening. Everyone savored their dishes, eating slowly to appreciate the flavor of all the food, as Samantha told her parents about the unusual contract terms of her current film, ending with, “And that's why I've been gaining so much weight lately. I'm not supposed to tell any else about that, so please don't tell anybody, or I could be sued.”

Clark nodded. “Don't worry, your mother and I won't tell anyone. Given that we're discussing this now, though, I'm guessing Chris already knows that you have to gain a lot of weight for this role.” The Vantras patriarch turned to Chris. “How do you feel about my your fiancee gaining a hundred pounds , Chris?”

Chris shrugged. “I'm...okay with it.” Samantha had to keep herself from bursting into laughter when Chris' left eyebrow blinked several times in quick succession

Samantha smiled as she quietly ran her foot along Chris' thigh and gave her soulmate a look that let him know she knew how much he appreciated her packing on the pounds, then turned to her parents with a more innocent smile on her face and said. “Chris has been very supportive of my weight gain, actually. He makes me delicious food all the time to help me put on weight, and he tells me that he likes having more of me to love whenever I get self-conscious about my size...”

Chris blushed a deep red, wondering if his fiancee realized she had just simultaneously given away that he and Samantha were having sex, and outed him as a fat admirer, before Samantha kept speaking. ''Also, Chris has decided to gain weight with me, out of solidarity”

Gabriella smiled. “And you're okay with that?”

Samantha blushed as she squeezed Chris' hand. “Of course I am. I love Chris for more than just his looks. Besides, both of us being bigger makes cuddling with my fiancee a lot more fun! More to love means more to hug!”

Clark burst out laughing. “Of course! Why didn't I see it before! You and Chris have become a couple of chubby lovers, just like your mother and I!”

Now it was Samantha's turn for her face to turn deep red even as her fiancee seemed to be very intently studying his shoelaces. “Maybe.”

Clark grinned. “Well, good for you two! You discovered the keys to a happy relationship, food and sex, early!”

Gabriella lightly smacked her husband's arm, even as the older woman smiled at her husband. “Clark Vantras!”

Clark shrugged. “What, Gabriella? It's not like we waited until we were married, either!” The Vantras patriarch turned to Chris and Samantha, both of which were now blushing and looking at the ground, even as Gabriella started to blush as well. “Besides, at least these two aren't living together, and they're engaged, so we know Chris is serious about loving Samantha. As long as they get married before too long, I don't see anything wrong with the way they are doing things!”

Samantha cleared her throat. “Actually, Chris and I were planning on getting married by the end of this year...” The actress then told her parents about her recent successful audition for “Pacific Islander”, and that she would have to be traveling for a year during filming, so she and Chris had decided to get married before then, so that he could go with her. By the time Samantha was finished explaining all of that, everybody had finished dinner, and Chris and the Vantras were all leaning back in their chairs, rubbing their full bellies as they did so. Clark smiled. “This is one of the best meals I've ever tasted! !” The older man accidentally let out a loud belch! “Sorry!”

Gabriella smiled. “Better out than in! My husband's right, Chris, you did an amazing job!” The Vantras matriarch involuntarily let out a loud, smelly fart. “I'm dreadfully sorry! Please excuse me!”

To top it all off, Chris and Samantha burped simultaneously, then blushed, just before Chris said. “Don' worry about it! And you're right, Gabriella, we made an amazing meal!”

Samantha then sighed and said. “Mom, Chris, this meal was amazing! I'm going to miss eating good food like this when I'm done filming “I love New York!'”

Clark frowned. “What do you mean?”

Chris sighed. “Samantha has to lose a lot of weight right after filming raps for her part on 'Pacific Islander. So she'll have to start dieting again, then.”

Samantha quickly added. “I have to get weight loss surgery, too.”

Gabriella shook her head. “That's not good, Samantha. Putting aside however you losing weight might impact your relationship to Chris...” The Vantras matriarch cast Chris a sympathetic look, the n turned back to her daughter and added. “Your sisters and I did some research on weight loss surgery, before Lipidpro was invented. It's not exactly safe, Samantha! You could end up messing up your health for life!”

Samantha shook her head and sighed. “ I wish I had known that before I signed the contract for 'Pacific Islander!' But what am I supposed to do, mom? Even though it's perfectly healthy to be fat on Lipidpro, Hollywood still wants skinny leading ladies most of the time! The only way to be a fat female star in L.A. Seems to be through comedy roles. And while I respect women who can make fun of themselves like that..I would be way too self-conscious to play roles like that!”

Gabriella shrugged. “Than maybe you should change careers? You're a very pretty girl, Samantha. You should be a plus-sized model!”

Samantha looked right a Chris for a moment, letting her fiancee know she was thinking about the offer the Darkassian sisters had made for her to do just that, before she turned back to her mom and said. “Believe me, the thought has crossed my mind. But Sophia already had my contract for Pacific Islander checked. It's ironclad. If I refuse to do the role, or to lose weight, the producers could sue me for a lot of money!”

Gabriella shook her head. “Well...I hope you can find a way out of getting that nasty weight loss surgery anyway! But in case you can't, you should enjoy eating whatever you want while you still can! And in that spirit...Clark and I brought a little surprise for you two!”

After several attempts, Gabriella was finally able to get up, and then proceed to waddle over to the guest room. Samantha asked a question from her dining room chair. “Mom, what are you doing?”

Gabriella waddled back into the room, and the 400 plus pound woman's thighs rubbed together as they did so, causing Chris to mentally sigh because he knew Samantha would not ever be allowed to get that big...at least for a long time, before Gabriella interrupted her soon to be son-in law's thoughts as she brought a pecan pie the size of a family-sized pizza into the kitchen. Gabriella laughed. “Clark and I had a hell of a time fitting this pie into a travel bag, but I told Clark that we couldn't possibly let you cook dinner, Chris, without saying thank you by bringing dessert! I hope you don't mind that it's pre-cooked, but I think it will still be delicious when it's warmed up!”

Chris moaned. “That's nice of you, Mrs. Vantras, but I don't think I could eat another bite!'

Clark smiled. “Nonsense! You haven't lived until you've tried my wife's pecan pie!”

Samantha nodded. “Mom's pie is really good, Chris! Even though I only let myself eat very small slices of it before now, because it has so much butter and sugar in it, I never, ever, passed on a chance for pie! You have to at least try some!”

Chris just nodded, and by the time the pie was warmed up (by which point everyone at the table had burped and farted several times, and had silently agreed not to comment on each others gas), and Gabriella had brought it out, the young man's stomach had recovered enough to manage one small slice of pie. However, after everyone had eaten a slice of pie, and there were several exclamations of, “MMM! You still got the gift, sweetheart!” “Oh, god! Thanks you so much for bringing pie, mom! I forgot how delicious your desserts are!” and “Thank you, Mrs. Vantras! This is the best pecan pie I've ever tasted in my life!”, Mrs. Vantras insisted everyone “Have at least one more slice!” Nobody turned the older woman's offer down.

Still, Chris reached his limit after two more large slices, as announced by a loud BURP!, and then a smelly fart, coming from the young man, which everyone else at the table just laughed off, as well Chris' words as he rubbed his large belly and said. “Stick a fork in me! I'm done! Thanks again for the amazing pie, though!”

Gabriella smiled and said. “You are most welcome, Chris! I'm glad you like it so much, because that pie is a family recipe, and after you and Samantha tie the knot, I'm going to be sharing the recipe for that pie, as well a couple dozen other delicious recipes, with you, since you are obviously going to be doing all the cooking for you and Samantha!”

Chris mock sighed. “Well, darn! I guess I'm going to get really fat then!”

Samantha smiled and patted Chris' belly. “I don't mind!”

Everyone at the table laughed once again before Samantha and the elder Vantras all continued eating, even as Chris and Clark started talking about sports, while Samantha and Gabriella discussed the Darkassian sisters' offer to let the starlet model for their plus-sized clothing line. During this time, Clark and Gabriella kept sneaking glances at each others mastication of the pie, as they each ate three large pieces of pie, and Chris looked on in wonder as Samantha demolished four large pieces, moaning with pleasure several times in the process, and leaving the bottom of the pie holder completely clean.

URRRRP! PPPOOOOT!

Samantha covered her mouth again, and waived her hand behind her ass. “ Sorry about that! I guess the appetite stimulants the studio are having me take work really well! I'm going to feel that in the morning. But what can I say, mom? Your pie is worth it!”

Gabriella smiled. “I'm glad you think so! I really do hope you change your mind about that weight loss surgery, Samantha! Given how much you obviously enjoyed dinner and dessert today, I think you would enjoy being a fat wife!”

Samantha and Chris both blushed, then Samantha said. “I'll think about it. Anyway, it's getting late. I should probably clean up before Chris leaves and the rest of us go to bed!”

Clark and Gabriella simultaneously shook their heads and said. “We'll help!” The elder Vantras then started cleaning up the table alongside their daughter, despite Samantha's protests, while Chris, who was still too stuffed to move, apologized for being unable to help. Even without Chris assistance, however, the Vantras family had the table cleared, and the dishes rinsed and put into the dishwasher, within five minutes. Shortly thereafter, Chris was finally able to stand, and after letting lose a loud yawn, the younger man announced that. “It's getting late! I better drive myself home now!”

Clark Vantras shook his head. “Out of the question! It's almost midnight, and you're obviously tired! Gabriella and I don't want our daughter's soulmate to get himself killed before you and Samantha even tie the knot, Chris! You should sleep here, don't you think, Samantha?!”

Samantha looked at her father, who used to be one of the strictest, most puritanical people she had had ever met, like he had grown a second head due to his suggestion that a man that wasn't related to her should stay at her house overnight, but she quickly nodded and said. “I agree.” The starlet then turned to Chris and added. “You should stay here for the night, Chris! It would be safer, and I would feel a lot better if you didn't drive across town this late at night.”

Chris nodded. “Um, okay. I guess there's not harm in me crashing on your living room coach for the night!”

Clark nodded in approval of Chris' idea, but Gabriella shook her head! “Don't be silly, Chris! Clark and guessed within minutes of seeing how you and Samantha were interacting at the airport, all smiling, and making eyes at each other, and holding hands, that you two have had sex already, so there's no need to keep up appearances with us! The living room couch doesn't look that comfortable, and Clark and I won't mind if you and your fiancee share a bed tonight! After all, you're practically family already!”

Clark quickly forced a smile after Gabriella gave him a look, then said. “Sure. I guess one night couldn't hurt, seeing as you and Samantha are going to be getting married soon! I'm going to go ahead and turn in. I'll see you in our room when you decide to go bed, Gabby!”

After Clark walked off, Samantha quickly hugged her mother, causing Gabriella's large belly and Samantha's smaller one to squash against each other for a moment before Samantha said. “Thanks, mom! Have a good night!”

Samantha then lead Chris by the hand to her master bedroom, while Chris was too embarrassed to do anything but nod at Gabriella as he and Samantha passed the older fat woman in the hallway. Several minutes later, After Chris and Samantha were settled in for the night and lying in bed in nothing but their underwear, Chris turned to Samantha and said. “Your parents actually seem pretty cool, Samantha. You made it sound like your mom and dad were really scary and judgmental before, but aside from your dad playing twenty questions with me earlier, your folks seem nice.”

Samantha sighed. “My parents have always been nice, Chris. To most people. But they used to be really protective, and super judgmental towards certain kinds of behavior, and certain kinds of people, which is why Ally has been afraid to come out of the closet to my parents all these years. My parents seem a lot more...relaxed now, though. More laid back. Less judgmental. Happier. I guess that marriage therapy has really been working for them. I'm really happy for them. And I'm glad that my parent's late entry into their 'hippie stage' is making it easier for you and I to be honest about our relationship in front of them. I just hope that my parents' change in attitude makes things easier for Ally when she meets her soulmates.”

Chris smiled wickedly “Oh, your parents are going to need a really open mind to deal with Vanessa! That woman has no filter!”

Samantha chuckled. “So I've noticed! I was wondering something, though, ever since it was all but confirmed, earlier tonight, that Vanessa is going to be one of my sister's soulmates. Did you know your ex-girlfriend was bisexual?!” Samantha's eyes widened as another possibility occurred to her. “Does Vanessa even know she's bisexual yet?!”

Chris chuckled. “Yeah, she knows. She told me, along time ago, right after we started dating. She made me promise not to tell anyone though. I'm only telling you because the cat's pretty much out of the bag now.”

Samantha nodded. “So Vanessa's in the closet, like my sister?”

Chris sighed. “Let me put it this way, Vanessa's parents were....” Chris clenched one of his hands into a fist, then took a deep breath and relaxed his hand before he said. “They were scum. There's no better way to put it. They put her down about everything when she was growing up. Her clothing choices, acne, her weight, even...”

“Her sexuality?” Samantha guessed.

Chris nodded. “Yeah. I'm not going to go into detail, because I'm already telling you more about my ex than I should, but...some of the marks they made on Vanessa when they found out she was attracted to other girls, were more than just psychological.”

Samantha's eyes widened. “They hit her?!”

Chris nodded. “And disowned her when she only sixteen. As I'm sure you can imagine, Vanessa doesn't trust easily now, especially concerning issues involving her sexual orientation. I hope you realized I'm telling you all of this in confidence, Samantha, and that I don't want you telling anyone, including Vanessa, that I told you this. I just want you to understand, when your sister first meets Ally, Vanessa may be...apprehensive about staring a relationship with a woman, much less two of them.”

Samantha sighed. “I guess I can understand that. I never really thought about it, but I have pretty good parents, at least in comparison to people like Vanessa's folks. No matter how bossy and judgmental they got, neither me, nor my sisters, ever had to doubt our mom and dad loved us. And my mom and dad would never, ever, hit any of us. Anyway,, are you going to be okay with having your ex as a future sister in law?”

Chris shrugged, even as he remembered the law that had been signed, early last year, that a person could marry two spouses...in the extremely rare case that all three individuals were soulmates. “Like I said, I'm friends with all my exes, I don't see how having Vanessa as an in-law will be much different. But let's move on to a more...enjoyable subject...”

Chris sled his hand underneath the covers and forced as smile as he caressed his fiancee's bare thigh and whispered into her ear. “You don't think your parents will notice if we have sex in the room right down the hall from theirs, do you?”

Samantha understood Chris' need to take his mind off his ex, so she smiled as seductively as she could, and was about to make a reply, when she heard the distant sound of a headboard hitting a wall, as well as sounds of laughter, coming from the guest room. Samantha and Chris both laughed nervously, and just before the two lovers took hold of each others love handles and kicked off a lovemaking session of their own with a passionate kiss, Samantha said. “No, Chris. I don't think my parents will notice a thing!'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter took so long to get out, everyone! But I hope you enjoyed it! As far as the spiritual/religious issues brought up in the chapter, no offense is meant to anyone.


	8. chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Samantha makes a very important decision.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's been a long time since I've updated this, but I've been really busy. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter!
> 
> Due to lack of continued interest in this story, this is now the final chapter.

Samantha Bartlett-Vantras sighed as she sat in the waiting room outside of the movie producer's office, cradling her large double belly in both hands as she did so. Then, after looking around to make absolutely sure no one could see her, Samantha shook her belly for several seconds, and smiled as this action caused her whole body, including her plump limbs, large ass (and Samantha was very happy that she actually had an ass worth mentioning now), huge breasts, back fat, and even the starlet's oval face and double chin, to shake with her. But the actress frowned again when she remembered that she would only get to enjoy her fat body, which it had taken almost twelve months, and 120 pounds of pure fat, to build, for two more weeks.

'I'm going to miss this!' the actress thought to herself as she rubbed her huge belly again, 'I'm really going to miss being fat! Why didn't I ever make the connection between my love of fat men and my own desire to grow fat until I was forced to gain weight!? Until I was put in a position where I would be forced to lose weight, afterwards!? It's not fair!'

'Oh well, at least Chris and I will still get to have fat sex on the honeymoon!'The starlet forced a smile as she looked down at the two golden rings hanging off of a gold chain between her large, dropping breasts, one with a star-shaped diamond mounted on the base, and the other with several symbols, including a spaceship, a planet, and a timer implant, carved into it's frame. The actress's grin widened as she remembered her and her brand new husband going to the jeweler's earlier that morning to get their rings put on matching necklaces. Samantha had already needed to have her engagement ring resized three times during her engagement, and Chris' wedding ring had been snug on his finger the moment he had put it on. Therefore, the day after the wedding, which had been a small affair in the chapel of a LGBT friendly church just outside of LA, Chris and Samantha had decided to just put their rings on necklaces using a nearby jewelry shop, before Samantha's meeting with her producer boss' and then the honeymoon, could begin.

As Chris' had nerded out and explained to the jeweler that. “My wife, Samantha Vantras, has been in so many great movies and TV shows, and I just wanted her wedding ring to reflect that part of her life! The spaceship if from 'Alien Battleship', obviously. This symbol's the Planet from 'Escape from Planet Hell', you get the idea. But the timer is special because it's not from a movie, it reminds me of the day that Samantha and I met! Have you heard that story...”, Samantha's mind had drifted to thoughts of the wedding the day before. The actress thought about how cute and sexy Chris had looked in a black suit that was just a little too small for him, making her groom's fat body, which had gained a whooping 80 pounds in about a year, clearly visible through his skin-tight button down shirt and dark slacks that looked painted on Chris' fat ass. The bride had to resist licking her lips at Chris when she saw him at the altar. The man's large belly had been sticking out just a little from under his shirt and jacket, which did nothing to hide the shape Chris' growing moobs, and the smile on Chris's oval face that day had really emphasized the man's double chin! Neither Samantha, nor Chris, had been able to pay much attention to anything besides each other during the ceremony, nor at the reception, during which Chris and Samantha had eaten five plates of food each, because they couldn't stop looking at each other. Later that night, after having the most passionate fat sex of their lives (for the bride and groom had abstained for a week beforehand), Chris had squeezed his wife' double belly and her large ass at the same time and said. “I wish you could keep this, Samantha! All of it! I know you love being fat just as much as I do! And today, in that skin tight wedding dress of yours, which showed off your...assets, so well..”

Samantha had smiled at that moment, remembering how she specifically told her dressmaker to have her wedding dress hug her belly, fat ass, and breasts as much as possible, without making her look trashy, during her wedding, before Chris had resumed speaking. “You looked like a beautiful parade float! But...”Chris had sighed then. “Whether you're fat or thin, you will always be the most beautiful woman on earth, and I am so lucky to have you!”

Samantha had burst into tears in the middle of the jewelry store after remembering her and Chris wedding night, and Chris had immediately walked over to his new bride and started hugging Samantha to console her. “What''s wrong, Samantha!? This is the first day of our honeymoon, you should be happy! I know it's a pain that your production company is making you do a last minute meeting with the Farner Brothers before we can get on our two-week cruise, but I'm sure we'll make it on the boat on time!”

Samantha had shook her head, then. “No! It's not that! I just feel like you're getting the worst end of this marriage, Chris! I know you like having a fat wife, just as much as I like have a fat husband! But whereas you agreed to stay fat, and never diet, as you wedding present to me, which I am so grateful for, chubby hubby, I have to get thin again as soon as the honeymoon is over! And you're also going to have to pass up that job opportunity...”

Chris had, of course, been sympathetic. “It's okay, Samantha! I always knew you were going to have to slim back down for your career after you finished filming 'I Love New York!' And as your husband, I fully support that! You're a phenomenal actress, Samantha! I've always thought so. And I'm glad you get to continue lighting up the silver screen, like you were born to do! Quitting my job at TIMER inc. to follow you around the world, and passing up that executive job with my dad's company in New York, is a small price to pay for helping you follow your dreams! Besides, I'll be able to go right back to running the TIMER stores in L.A when we get back from shooting your movie! And you can always get fat again whenever you retire from acting, if you want.”

Samantha shook her head to clear away her busy thoughts, bringing them back to the present, where she was sitting outside the Farner Brothers studio office. 'Wow. A flashback within a flashback! That was weird!' The brown-haired actress knew that her brain was scrambled when her thoughts were that scattered, but she couldn't help herself. The starlet was very nervous about whatever this “last minute meeting” with her production company was going to be about, and she was already dreading the day, two weeks from now, that she would have to get weight loss surgery, and start dieting and exercising again! And worst of all, Samantha now knew that by doing so, she would not only be letting herself and Chris down, she would also be wasting a significant financial investment that her father in-law, Arnold Bartlett, had made in his son and daughter in-law's happiness. At the wedding reception the day before, Arnold and Mary Bartlett, who looked 50 and 30 pound heavier than last time Samantha had seen them, respectfully, had officially given Chris and Samantha Bartlett-Vantras their summer home in LA as a wedding present, Right after that, Arnold, whose large belly and double chin were both quite large by now, had asked for a word in private with the bride. Once they were in a quite corner of the room, Arnold Bartlett had sighed and confessed. “I'm the billionaire investor. You know, the one that kept 'I Love New York!' going?”

Samantha's eyes had been wide then. “And you're the one who was anonymously bribing me, via email, $1,000 dollars for every pound I gained during the production of that film?! ”

Arnold had nodded. “The very same. I hoped that would be enough for you to live off of until Chris could make more money, you see. Enough that you wouldn't feel the need to get skinny again for your acting career. I guess I was wrong. So what do I owe you for your trouble, Mrs. Bartlett-Vantras, as soon as “I Love New York” hits the big screen?! $110,000?”

Samantha glared back at Arnold Bartlett. “$120,000. I wanted to be as fat as possible during mine and Chris' honeymoon! And I want you to know that only took your bribe, because Chris and I agreed that it wouldn't hurt, since we both wanted me to gain weight anyway, and I knew it would make your son happy for me to get fat for while. Does he know that you were doing this!?”

Arnold shook his head. “No. Chris is an innocent in all this. I didn't tell him I was the investor. You should tell him, though. There shouldn't be any secrets between husbands and wives!”

Samantha looked over at Mary Bartlett, who was standing in the center of the room, where her huge ass could be seen by everyone, talking to her heavyset son. “So, Mary knew about this as well?!”

Arnold nodded. “Of course she did! I don't keep secrets from my wife! And our son's happiness is just important to my wife as it is to me, so she understood completely! You see, my wife and I both know that Chris prefers larger women. That's why we were so confused when our son's One turned out to be so skinny! Don't get me wrong, Samantha, you seem like a wonderful woman, and Mary and I know that you and Chris love each other a lot, but we also knew that Chris would never be truly happy with you, unless you got fat! So as soon as I had the opportunity, I set it up for just that to happen! I spent half a billion dollars on 'I Love New York' so that my son could have a happy life with a fat wife! And now you're about to throw all that all away!”

Samantha had shook her head, even as her eyes filled with tears. “But I have to lose weight for my career, so I can follow my dreams! Chris understands that!”

Arnold had frowned then, even as he nodded “I'm sure he does. My son has always been a selfless individual who puts everything he has into his relationships, and is willing to make any sacrifice for the ones he loves. And I'm sure that, even if you end up rail thin again, and stay that way for the rest of your life, Chris will still love you. No matter what, my son will never cheat on you, or leave you, and he would sacrifice anything for you, because he's your soulmate, and your husband, and he loves you! But if you lose weight, he will never be as attracted to you as he is right now again....”

Samantha had almost cried at that moment, as she saw her fat husband look at her from across the room, with so much love for her in his eyes, even as Arnold kept speaking. “And he will never quite be happy again. So I begging you, Samantha, don't loss the weight for your next role! I'll pay for any legal fees from broken contracts with your production company if you stay fat. I'll even get my son that executive position for TIMER Inc. I promised him in New York, with the promise that Chris will never be fired for any reason, so you and Chris can both live like royalty, even if you can't find another job, because nothing is too big a sacrifice for my son's happiness! If you want Chris Bartlett-Vantras to be a happy husband, you'll stay a fat wife!”

“The Farner Brothers will see you now!” A skinny, blonde receptionist momentarily jarred Samantha away from her thoughts about the previous day when the slim woman finally came out from the production office to let Samantha in for her appointment. But even as the receptionist sneered at Samantha's huge, flabby body, which got out of breath just from Samantha getting out the chair in the hallway, the plus-sized starlet's thoughts were already starting to drift again, and Samantha was already ruminating on the “better days” of the past 11 months.

Of course, the eleven months after Chris had met Samantha's parents had been hectic. Between Chris training Darcy to be the manager over all the stores in the LA area until Chris got back, Samantha's work on “I Love New York”, and planning for the wedding, and selling Samantha's new house , things had not been easy for the fat couple. But there had been a lot of fun times too, as Chris and Samantha had made an effort to hang out with all of their friends as much as possible before they had to leave for the Pacific, and Chris and Samantha had gone on plenty of dates at some of their favorite locations in the city of angels, including Lazer Danger,. But for the most part, the engaged couple had done two things when they were together: eating and making love (but never at the same time, for that was something that Samantha wanted to save for the Honeymoon).

Although Samantha and Chris had both eaten a lot over the last year in order to be as fat as possible for each other on their wedding day, glutting themselves on fast food, pizza, frozen desserts,and other foods, both from restaurants all over the L.A. Area, and straight from Chris' kitchen, Samantha's appetite had put Chris' to shame. Fueled by a determination to get as fat as possible before she had to lose weight again, the desire to make as much as possible off of “I Love New York”'s mysterious benefactor, and her appetite stimulants (which the studio took away once Samantha had gained 100 pounds), Samantha had eaten far more than she would have ever thought possible. Whether it was foods from the Farner Brothers studio buffet between shots, eating chips, snack cakes and other treats at home, binging on fast food before and after work, eating multiple courses of buffet food, or Chris' homemade meals, Samantha almost never stopped eating. As a result, the fat starlet had eaten every bite of food out of both her and Chris' homes on several occasions, gained 120 pounds in a single year, been banned from half the buffets in LA, and become both fatter and happier than she had ever thought possible.

Samantha equated happiness with food and fat now. A fact that become more and more obvious every time she and Chris, who had also been gaining weight rapidly, made love after a large meal. Every time she and her fiancee had sex now, usually burping and farting as they did so, both of them were just a little bit bigger, a little bit softer, and a little bit squishier than the last time Chris and Samantha had coitus. So of course, every lovemaking session was just a little bit more pleasurable than the one before it. In these moments, when Samantha and Chris large, stuffed, but still very soft, bellies bounced against each other, and both of their bodies jiggled as the couple held each others ever widening asses, ever thickening thighs, and ever softer breasts (for Chris had moobs now, and Samantha loved them), bellies and love handles, Samantha knew in her heart that this was the way her and Chris were supposed to be. Fat, stuffed with food, and happy beyond belief in each others company. And every time Samantha felt this way, she wanted to cry, because she knew losing weight later would inevitably lead to her and Chris' unhappiness.

As Samantha followed the receptionist down several long hallways, panting and sweating as her ass, belly, and breasts all bounced with every step as she did so, because this was the most exercise Samantha had gotten in months, the brown haired starlet forced herself to focus on a happy memory that didn't make her sad now. This time, Samantha let her mind drift entirely, completely losing sight of the present as her eyes and legs mindlessly moved her in the right direction, while her brain focused itself completely on a particularly happy memory, the day that Samantha and Chris had gotten Ally together with her two soulmates...

…Nine months ago...

“Glad to see you're finally eating well, sis!” Were the first words out Ally Vantras, Samantha's big (in every sense of the word) sister, after Samantha, Clark, and Gabby Vantras met their relative at the airport, and Ally (who weighed 550 pounds now) had enveloped her sister and her parents in a huge hug...at the same time. The five foot, blonde-haired and blue-eyed woman, who was wider than she was tall, had three chins, huge breasts that were so weighted down with pure fat that they almost reached her belly button, thunder thighs that were constantly fused together, and an ass that was so big that the heavyset blonde had almost needed to buy three seats on the plane! And every inch of Ally's fat body had shook and jiggled when she had hugged her relatives, then patted her little sister's developing spare tire right afterward, while the bigger sister talked to Samantha.

Samantha smiled at her big sister. “What can I say, I got tired of being the only small fry in this family! Speaking of which, I'm glad you could join me and our parents on planning my upcoming wedding to Chris! Especially considering what day it is...””

Samantha quickly pointed to her sister's timer to get her point across, causing Ally to laugh and say. “Well, you've been begging me to be here today for months, little Sammy! I'm not going to let my little sister down now! Besides, I don't really like any of the wo...I mean, romantic prospects, in the small town I'm living in right now, and I don't want any of them to be my soulmates anyway! And If I find my ones here, maybe I could move somewhere closer to where you and Chris will be living after you get done shooting “Pacific Islander! If that's okay with you!”

Samantha's grin had only widened then. “Of course that would be okay! I love LA, and being a star, but I hate living so far away from family! It would be nice to have you living close by, Ally!” Also, Samantha thought to herself, Ally visiting on this particular day would make it easier for her and Chris to insure that Ally meet Vanessa under their right circumstances. If only Samantha knew who Ally's second soul-mate was as well...”

Samantha's thoughts were derailed by Ally's next words. “Now if you don't mind, I need to eat! That was a long flight to go without food, and the food prices in airports are ludicrous! Can we grab a bite before going to Samantha's place for wedding planning, please! I'm starving!”

Samantha laughed as her stomach growled at the mention of food. “That's okay. I'm hungry too!”

Clark Vantras laughed. “Didn't you say you ate an hour ago, Samantha? Right before you picked your mom and me up at our terminal? How can you be hungry already?”

Samantha laughed and patted her belly. “These days, dad, I'm always hungry!”

All Vantras family members present laughed at that, and seeing as the elder Vantras were hungry after their flight as well, it was quickly agreed that the four of them would go to a nearby buffet for a late lunch. But not before Ally teased her sister again while patting Samantha's belly, and her own, at the same time. “Be careful, little Sammy! With an appetite like that, yours, you're liable to get as big as me one day!”

Samantha had sighed at that. Ally instantly knew that had been the wrong thing to say to her little sister when Samantha frowned and said. “I wish!”

Despite that down note, however, the mood picked up by the time the Vantras' family reached the buffet, and the two daughters and their parents were all smiling, laughing, and talking about Samantha's upcoming wedding as they loaded their plates with seafood, burgers, fries, pizza slices, and pretty much every other “unhealthy” (a term which was now obsolete, since the invention of Lipidpro) food item they could get their hand on. After Clark Vantras prayed over the meal, his wife, Gabriella, his daughter, Ally, and Clark himself all quickly began chowing down on their food. But Samantha hesitated a second to text Chris, letting the man know they were at the designated rendezvous spot. Samantha had been banking on her parents and sister being hungry after their flight, and that gamble was about to pay off in a big way for Ally.

Second later, after Samantha had already consumed half a of a triple cheeseburger, with everything on it, an act which showed off Samantha's developing double chin, Samantha got a reply text that read. “Good work, Samantha! But try to keep Ally there as long as possible. The good news is, my friends and I have convinced Vanessa that meeting her two soulmates today will be a great thing, and that it'll be okay if they're both female. Unfortunately, our plan to get Ally and Vanessa to meet up at the buffet has a new development that may slow down our arrival .”

Samantha quickly texted back. “What!?” with one hand, as she finished her burger with the other.

Chris replied almost a minute later, as Samantha was halfway though a plate full of fries. “Yeah. You remember I said that old friend of mine, that I used to date in middle school, Stefanie, was coming back into town to take over her family's store after her dad had a stroke, and I had agreed to drop by the store to say hi? Well, I decided to do so while taking a break from hanging out with Vanessa, Darcy, and Adam at the mall, and my friends all wanted to tag along to say hello to my old classmate. And you'll never guess whose timer was the first to match with Vanessa's...”

Samantha's eyes had bulged outward as she read her fiancee's text, and the brunette starlet had almost chocked on her last french fry at that moment. After Gabriella made sure her daughter wasn't chocking to death, all eyes turned to Samantha. Ally looked especially concerned for Samantha, the only member of her family she had trusted enough to confess that she was a lesbian. “Samantha, are you okay? You've been texting at the table since we got here, and whatever news you're getting seems to be pretty upsetting to you...”

Samantha smiled at her sister. “Unexpected? Yes. Upsetting? Definitely not!”

The fat starlet, who had gained 50 pounds since agreeing to gain weight for her current film role, looked at every member of her family then, and said. “Chris and I have a surprise for all of you, especially you, Ally. It's a really good surprise, but it may take some of you...”Samantha turned towards her parents then. “A little while to adjust to what it is”

. Samantha sighed, then, after texting Chris to “Bring my sister's soulmates here ASAP! Ally's waited long enough to be loved for the awesome person she is!” the brunette woman turned to both of her parents, causing her belly, breasts, love handles, and cellulite laden thighs to jiggle as Samantha did so. . “But I need all of you to trust me when I saw that it is absolutely imperative that none of us leave this buffet until my fiancee arrives with two very special people!”

Ally's eyes widened in sudden understanding. “Samantha, you're scaring me. Did you...did you and Chris set me up to meet both of my soulmates here, in front of mom and dad?! Because I don't know if they'll be willing to accept...”

But Gabriella quickly leaned across the table and hugged her oldest, and fattest, daughter while she quietly said. “It's okay if both of your soulmates are women, Ally! Your father and I have let go of a lot of prejudices over the last year or so, and we just want you to know that we won't love you any less if you're a lesbian with two female soulmates!”

Ally was crying tears of joy at this point, and she looked at her father for confirmation of her mother's words. “You would really still love me if I were a lesbian, dad?!”

Clark Vantras smiled at his eldest daughter and gently squeezed her hands. “Of course we would! You're mother and I have loved you from the moment you were born, Ally! And nothing in this world will ever change that!”

Ally smiled then, just basking in the glow of love and acceptance she was receiving from her family at that moment, before the fattest Vantras exhaled loudly and said. “That's good...because I am. A lesbian, I mean. I already told Samantha this years ago,, and thank you, little Sammy, for whatever you said to make mom and dad here changed their minds about...well, people like me. But I'm glad that you can all accept me for who I am now. And thank you so much, Samantha, for finding my soulmates and having your fiancee bring them to me!”

Samantha hugged her sister then. “It was no trouble at all, Ally! You're a good person, and an excellent big sister! And you deserved to be loved! Besides, Chris did most of the work in finding the two women whose timers matched yours, well, lucked into it more like! It turns out that two of my soulmates ex-girlfriend's are your soulmates!”

Ally burst out laughing then. “Seriously?! Well, I really have to thank your fiancee in person than, little Sammy! Both for bringing my future wives to me, and...” Ally laughed even harder as she added. “For helping them realize they didn't like men as much they thought!”

Samantha and her parents all frowned at Ally's choice of words, but choose to let the careless remark go on the happiest day of the fattest Vantras' life. Pretty soon, all four of the family members were talking, laughing, and eating again, and the Vantras family consumed a colossal amount of food, causing the fat family to burp and fart frequently, as they waited for Chris, Vanessa, and Stefanie to arrive.

When Chris and his exes finally arrived, they were a sight to behold. Although Chris had only gained another ten pounds since he had last met the Vantras family, meaning he was still below the obesity threshold, Samantha couldn't take her eyes of the way her fiancee's barrel shaped belly and softer ass jiggled, along with his constantly running together thighs, as the love of her life entered the room. And even though Chris' rounder face wasn't quite sporting a double chin yet, the smile on Chris' face, and the love in the man's eyes when they met Samantha's own, still captivated the fat actress.

But even as Chris and Samantha briefly kissed after the former entered the room, and made eyes at each other for the next several seconds, shutting out the world around them as they did so. Ally's attention was completely focused on her two soulmates. Vanessa, who had gained thirty pounds over the past three months, putting her at 280 pounds of jiggling flab, had put on weight on pretty much every part of her body. So every inch of the dark-eyed, blonde-haired, apple shaped woman was covered in fat, from her large, stretch-mark streaked belly, to her flabby, cellulite-coated ass, and even the woman's arms, legs, thunder thighs and oval shaped, double-chinned face. There was not a single part of Vanessa's body that a person could look at without being able to tell that Vanessa was a very fat woman!

Vanessa was not as fat, however, as the women whose hand the blonde-haired BBW had been holding before coming into the buffet. Unlike Vanessa, though, Stephanie only looked mildly chubby...from her breasts upward. The red haired, green-eyed woman's face was only slightly plump, with just the slightest beginnings of a double chin on her face, the woman's neck was slender, and her arms and breasts had only been softened a little by her fat. But the rest of the 600 pound woman's body was huge! The extremely bottom heavy woman, who had already been a big girl when she had graduated high school, and had gone crazy with an unlimited meal plan in college, had a large emperor belly, enormous ass, and monster-sized thighs, that made Stephanie twice as wide as Samantha, despite being a few inches shorter than the plump actress!

Just fitting Stephanie through the front door of the restaurant had been an ordeal, with Chris pulling on one of his middle school ex's hands from inside the buffet, and Vanessa pushing Stephanie's love handle and ass from outside, for the better part of five minutes. But the struggle, which left the plump man, and two fat women, sweaty and winded, all proved to be worth it once Stefanie and Vanessa both gathered their wits about them enough to look towards Ally's table. The moment that Stephanie and Vanessa's eyes met Ally's, all three women's timers chimed, although Ally's timer had two separate chime beats, slightly out of sync with each other, for several seconds.

The timer chimes, which brought even Chris and Samantha out of their dazed state, caught the attention of everyone in the restaurant And when the patrons say that three individuals had just found their two soulmates, many were amazed by the once-in a lifetime sight. Seconds later, the entire restaurant was filled the sound of applause.

When the three soulmates' timers stopped chiming, Ally, Stephanie and Vanessa all blushed, then smiled and spoke simultaneously “It's you two!” “It's you!”

The three soulmates had then all ran/waddled towards each other, each jiggling like crazy as they did so, before finally meeting in a three-way hug near the front of the restaurant After all three woman had hugged for several seconds. Vanessa smirked when she caught sight of something shiny on Ally's lips. “You got something, right there...”

Ally blushed, then tried to wipe the offending substance off her lips. “Sorry. That's probably fried chicken grease. I love fried chicken!”

Vanessa smiled deviously, then stopped Ally's hand with her own when the 550 pound woman's hand was half-way to her lips. “So do I!” Vanessa then drew her equally blonde-haired soulmate into what she intended to be a deep kiss, but Stephanie tapped Vanessa on the shoulder after five seconds, then reminded her two soulmates. “This is a family friendly restaurant, you two!”

Vanessa and Ally had then pulled away from each other with dissapointed looks on their faces before Stephanie smirked, then added. “Besides, it's my turn now!” Stephanie then drew Ally into an equally passionate, and equally as brief, five second kiss as the one Ally had shared with Vanessa. The extremely fat, bottom-heavy red head then blushed, looked at both of her soulmates for several seconds, then looked down and said. “You know, this is all so crazy for me! I didn't even realize I liked women this way until about a week ago, and now I find out that two women are my soulmates, and yet, somehow...I love you both already!”

Ally looked at Vanessa and Stephanie and said. “That's okay, because I already love both of you two!”

Vanessa smiled at both her soulmates, blushed, then said. “Ditto!”

Even as several people in the restaurant cheered at the three women's confession of love, Chris just looked down at the table for several seconds, then stole a sip of Samantha's sugary soda. “Can I have a sip of this?! Thanks!”

Samantha frowned at her fiancee. “What are you so glum about, Chris?! This is a happy moment!”

Chris had just sighed then, thankful that no eyes were on him and his fiancee when he spoke under his breathe. “I know it is! And I am happy for your sister, and Vanessa and Stephanie! It's just...my soulmate's sister is the soulmate of two of my ex-girlfriends! My life is so weird!'

Samantha held Chris hand under the table then. “Good weird, or bad weird?!”

Chris smiled at Samantha then. “Definitely good weird!”

The rest of that day had been a happy one, as Chris, the Vantras family, and Ally's two soulmate's all got along, despite a few accidental uses of profanity on Vanessa's part. And even if Samantha's extended family did clean out the buffet by eating so much, while belching and farting the whole time, and everyone had gotten kicked out of the restaurant in the process, the happiness of that day continued to live on in the memories of the Vantras' family....

….Present...

“Here we are, chubby! The Farner brothers are right through that door! I hope your fat ass can fit through it!”

Samantha glared at the skinny receptionist, but said nothing as the large actress' thoughts were forcefully brought back towards the present. Even so, Samantha hoped that Ally, Vanessa and Stephanie, who had recently moved into an apartment together in LA, were happier than she was feeling right now, as the brown-haired actress stepped into the meeting with her bosses with a sense of trepidation.

Rob and Bob Farner were both setting in two luxury armchairs in the middle of the room when Samantha entered the office. Before either man spoke, Samantha took a quick look at the two brothers, whom she had only met in person a handful of times, to try to gauge the mood of the room. Both brothers had dark hair which was going gray around the edges, and brown eyes, but that was were their similarities seemed to end. Rob, the younger Farner brother, was a very fat man, with a huge belly and double chin, and he was known for wearing t-shirts (like the Star Trek one he was wearing right now) and jeans to the office. Rob's laid-back appearance had also reflected his management style over the years, as the fat brother was known for being encouraging and supportive, but never confrontational, with those who worked for him. And even though Rob used to flirt with all the actresses that worked for the company, up until his timer had gone off six years ago at the same time as a male director, he had never to tried to force himself on anyone, or lay hands on anyone who worked for him. For all of these reasons, as well as the fact that Rob Farner always seemed to have a smile on his face, the slightly younger, and much fatter, Farner brother was well liked by almost everyone in his company. However, the frown on the usually jolly producer's face at the moment only exacerbated Samantha's anxiety...especially when she turned around to look at Bob Farner.

Bob Farner, as usual, was wearing a suit. The always formal, skinny as a rail, older brother was know for having a no-nonsense attitude on set, and he had made it clear to everyone that absolutely nothing mattered to him more than Farner Brothers inc. In order to insure the prosperity of his family business Bob was known for micromanaging directors, production staff, and on occasion, actors and actresses, and he wasn't very nice about it, because, as the slimmer brother often liked to say “I don't have time to be nice! Time is money!” Bob Farner's style of leadership had helped make the company billions over two decades, but it had also driven many staff members into resignation or suicide. Bob himself had suffered from his own workaholic, micromanaging tendencies, as the man hardly ever got more than four hours of sleep a night, he had lost four wives over the years, and three of his four children wouldn't even speak to the man anymore. In short, Bob Farner had made himself one of the most hated men in show business, and everyone who worked for the man lived in fear of being glared at by him, for trouble always befell the person whom that glare landed upon. So the angry look that Bob Farner was shooting her way now made the newlywed actress absolutely terrified.

Rob Farner frowned at the anxious look on Samantha's face, forced a smile, then pointed to a large sofa in the room, which was only a couple feet in front of where the two Farner brothers were sitting. “Relax, Mrs. Vantras. Please sit down. Can I have our receptionist bring you something to drink?”

Samantha shook her head, causing her chins to jiggle, as she sat down, and the sofa to creak in protest as she did so. “No thanks.”

Bob Farner continued to glare at Samantha. “Good, we don't have time for such pleasantries, anyway. Mrs. Vantras, your contract for Pacific Islander need to be renegotiated, and you need to approve the changes in writing.”

Samantha shook her head. “I don't understand. Are you cutting my pay for the movie for some reason?”

Rob shook his head as he absentmindedly played with the wedding ring his husband had given him five years ago.. “Don't worry, Mrs. Vantras, it's nothing like that. You're still going to get paid the agreed upon amount for your next film.”

Bob huffed. “Actually, Samantha, what you're facing right now is more severe than a simple pay cut. And it's your own damn fault! I mean, fuck, nobody asked you to blow up like a balloon while filming “I Love New York!”

Rob glared at his brother. “There's no need for language like that, Bob! Due to our mysterious benefactor's odd requests, Mrs. Vantras was forced to gain a significant amount of weight for the role...”

“100 pounds!” Bob pointed to Samantha's large body, with it's double belly, thunder thighs, dropping breasts, and double chin. “Does it look like Samantha's only gained 100 pounds, Rob!? Samantha, how many pounds did you gain in the last eleven and a half months?!”

Samantha gulped. “120. I guess I went a little overboard with the eating, but the contract said I had to gain at least 100 pounds, it never specified that I couldn't gain more...”

“The contract never specified...” Bob mimicked Samantha's voice in a mocking tone. “You should have known that the production company you were representing, my production company...”

“Our production company....” Rob tried to interrupt his brother.

But Bob wouldn't have it. “I own one percent more of the company that you do, little brother, so my production company! Samantha, or maybe I should say Hamantha, you should have known that I wouldn't want you to make a bigger pig of yourself than you had to, but you just kept right on eating!”

Samantha took a deep breathe, counted to three, then responded. “I'm sorry I dissapointed you, Mr. Farner, or if my conduct has reflected badly on your company in any way. But I promise you that I will lose all of the weight I've gained as soon as my husband and I get back from our honeymoon, just as my contract stipulates...”

Bob snorted. “ It's too late for that, Hamantha. You're going to have to postpone the honeymoon, sweetheart! With the amount of weight you've gained, we need you on the operating table, then at the gym, today for you to have any hope of losing all the weight you've gained in time for us to meet our shooting schedule for Pacific Islander! In fact, if you're smart, you'll annul the marriage to that fat ass husband of yours, pronto! He's almost as big a problem for the image of my company as you are!”

Samantha glared at Bob Farner. “I beg you're pardon!? What makes you think you can talk about my husband that way in front of me?!”

Rob put a placating hand on his brother's arm. “Bob, maybe you're making this just a little too personal...”

But Bob Farner ignored his younger brother, shaking Rob's hand off as he yelled as Samantha. “I'm you're boss,Hamantha! I can say whatever I want, and you can't do anything about it, so get that through you're thick skull now! I will not have the name of Farner Brothers attached to anymore headlines like this...”

Bob dropped a magazine from a nearby desk onto the floor in front of Samantha. The fat actress quickly glanced at the cover, which showed a profile pick of Samantha with a double chin, and asked. “Will Samantha Vantras be the Fattest Woman in Hollywood?”

“Or this!” The elder Farner brother tossed a tabloid in front of Samantha, which had a picture taken only a week ago, of Samantha wearing only a bikini, showing of her double-belly, large ass, huge thighs, and most of her dropping cleavage, as well as lots of cellulite and stretch-marks, for all the world to see. Chris had assured Samantha she looked “Damn good!” in that yellow bikini, and the actress had felt sexy as hell while wearing it, But evidently, the staff of “The Questioner” felt differently, as the cover proclaimed that Samantha had “The worst beach body of the year!”

“Or even this!” Bob threw down another magazine, which asked. “Will Chris Bartlett and Samantha Vantras be the fattest married couple in cinema history?!” Samantha actually thought that both her and Chris, both of whom had been ordering from a food truck two days before their wedding, looked damn good in the picture. Samantha especially admired the way that Chris' jeans had kept drifting down his ass just a little bit that day, leaving just a small bit of her fiancee's (now husband's) fat ass, cellulite, and butt crack exposed. That sexy sight had certainly increased Samantha's expectation for her and Chris' wedding night! And now an image from that wonderful day was being used as ammunition against her and her husband, and that really pissed Samantha off!

But it was was happened next that really made the fat actress blow a gasket, as Bob threw a large stack of papers in front of Samantha, as well as a pen. The older brother then hissed loudly, in between clenched teeth, and said. “So here's what going to happen, Hamantha! You WILL sign the papers in front of you, authorizing changes to your present film contract for Pacific Islander, then you WILL get liposuction and a tummy tuck today, then lose 130 pounds in the next 10 months, because honestly, you were a bit too chubby for this role even before you became a fat ass, and then you WILL stay slim during the duration of your employment with my company! Oh, and if your heifer of a husband doesn't lose fifty pounds within one year's time, you will divorce him!”

Rob saw the angry look on Samantha's face, and he already knew what was coming when he muttered under his breathe. “Oh, shit! You've really done it now, Bob!”

Samantha got up from her chair (with considerable effort) picked up the new contract, then tore it to pieces. “Like hell I will! I love my husband, just the way he is, and I wouldn't leave him for all the money in the world, if Chris Bartlett-Vantras became the fattest man on Earth!”

Bob Farner's face turned red, and it looked like a vein in the man's forehead would pop as he said. “So that's the way you want to play things, huh? I guess you fat asses really do stick together!”

Samantha glared at at Bob. “Damn straight we do!”

Bob Farner's fists clenched as he screamed. “You're fired, then! And I'll see your fat ass in court for breach of contract!”

Rob sighed as the situation in the room kept sliding ever further from his control. “Can you two please calm down? I'm sure if the three of us sat down and calmly discussed things, we could come to some sort of compromise.”

Samantha smiled at Rob and said. “Sorry, Rob. You've been a good boss, and I don't hold any animosity towards you, but you're brother here....” Bob fumed as his former employee continued speaking. “Is an asshole, and he burned Farner Brothers' bridge with me when he ordered me to divorce my husband if Chris, my soulmate, didn't lose weight! So I quit!”

Samantha smirked as she turned towards the older brother, pulled a King-sized candy bar out of her purse and spoke to Bob in between bites. “And another thing, Bob! I've actually come to realize that I love being fat, and I don't care anymore what other people think about that!” Samantha shook her double belly to emphasize her words before she continued speaking. “Besides,my husband loves that I'm fat, too! On that note, I love having a fat husband! You could say that Chris and I were made for each other, except that our timers already said that ! So here's what I WILL do, Bob! I'm going to go on a two week, all expense paid, honeymoon cruise with my husband, on a boat that has five buffets that are open 24/7, and room service! And Chris and I are going to eat like pigs all day and night, when we're not making passionate love, that is, and we are both going to SO MUCH FATTER by the time we get back to port! Then, Chris is going to take a job working for his father in New York as a TIMER INC. executive, and I am going to accept a job as a plus-sized model, working for the Darkassian twins. You know, the women who are marketing themselves as “the fattest, most fabulous reality show duo on Earth” since they've gained fifty pounds and counting!”

Samantha licked the remaining chocolate of her fingers after finishing her candy bar, then added. “And you could try to sue me for all of that if you want, Bob. But if you do, you'll lose. Because you're the one that tried to change my contract at the last minute, and tried to force me to divorce my soulmate! Oh, and both my father in-law, and the Darkassian twins, have better legal teams than Farner Brothers does! But if you want a financial beat down, go right ahead! I will be glad to set my fat ass down in a court room just long enough to see you lose everything!”

Bob was snarling by this point, as he pointed at Samantha and screamed. “No, you'll lose everything! I do not lose! And when my company sues you....”

Rob got up from his chair then, and the usually mild-mannered man raised his voice over his brother as he yelled. “There will be no lawsuit, Bob! Mrs. Vantras is right, our company's lawyers can't beat Timer Inc. and the Darkassian Corporation in a legal battle, especially given the unethical terms of the new contract you had written for her!”

Bob glared at his brother. “I'm still the CEO of this company, Rob!”

Rob shrugged. “That maybe so, but the board of directors has rights too, Bob! They have to approve every major lawsuit this company instigates, and I can assure you, they will not authorize a major lawsuit like this on such shaky legal grounds. Oh, and the board likes me more than you, so you might want to factor that into you calculations.”

Rob then turned towards Samantha with a smile on his face, even as his older brother sat down after being stunned into silence by his little brother's unusual display of assertiveness. The fat, younger brother then said. “And on behalf of the board, Mrs, Vantras, I promise that, in addition to the pay you were promised for “I Love New York', you will also be granted a generous severance package to compensate you for any inconveniences you may have suffered as a result of the early termination of your employment with Farner Brothers! And I would personally like to wish you the best of luck in your future career aspirations!”

Bob groaned from his place in his chair, where the older brother was now drinking whiskey straight from a bottle and staring blankly ahead, but said nothing, in response to Rob's words. The older brother didn't even respond when Samantha gave Rob a quick hug and said. “Thanks, Rob, for everything! Like I said, you've been a great boss! Maybe someday, the board will see sense and make you CEO of Farner Brothers! And if that day ever comes...”

Rob nodded. “I'll have your number on speed-dial. I think our studio will be ready to willingly give a plus-sized woman a leading lady role in one of our films by then, without having to be bribed to do so first! Your a great actress at any size, Samantha! I know that “I Love New York” will prove that to the world, and I'm certain you have many more years of acting in you!”

Samantha blushed, and said. “Thank you, Rob! That means a lot coming from you, considering...”

Rob chuckled. “That you know I'm not trying to sleep with you, since I'm gay as the day is long, and not in the closet anymore ? Fair point. And on a personal note, Samantha, I can understand your preferences a little bit, because I like myself the way that I am, and Eugene Varsgard, my husband, likes me, well...fluffy!”

Samantha chuckled. “There's nothing wrong with that! Tell your husband I said hi, by the way, and that I enjoyed working for him on “I Love New York', but that he might want to be more careful with the special effects budget on his next film!”

Rob chuckled. “I'll definitely tell him all of that! Thank you for your hard work for our company, Samantha Vantras! I hope to work with you again some day!”

When Samantha opened the door to the Farner brother's studio to let herself out, she almost hit the skinny blonde receptionist, whose ear had just been on the office door, with said door. Despite the fact that the receptionist had obviously been eavesdropping on her meeting with the Farner Brothers, Samantha apologized for almost hitting the skinny blonde with the door. But the receptionist just sneered at Samantha and said, “Whatever! I heard everything that was said in that room! After everything that Bob Farner has done for you, how could you talk to him like that and throw away your acting career just so you and your husband could stay fat?! You're an ungrateful fat ass!”

Samantha rolled her eyes then, while deducting from the receptionist's words that the rumors around set, that Bob Farner was sleeping with this skinny blonde,were probably true. So the fat actress put little stock in the receptionist's opinion. Samantha smirked as she patted her double belly and whispered. “It's my body, I'll be fat if I want to! And maybe you should try it some time. After all, I heard that Bob Farner's last wife weighed 400 pounds at the end of their marriage, and her weight had nothing to do with why those two got divorced. Food for thought. Although you might want to be doing more than just thinking about food, skinny bitch! Who knows, you may actually be happy if you have a burger or fifty!”

Having spoken those words to the receptionist, whose skinny mouth was now hanging open in shock, Samantha walked out of the Farner Brother's building, towards the parking lot where Chris was waiting for her in his vehicle. The fat actress was smiling widely as she waddled towards the lot, for she had the most wonderful news to tell her new husband. Samantha had decided to be a fatty for life!

...minutes later...

Chris was waiting for his new wife in his car, in the Farner Brothers Parking lot, anxiously looking at his watch while worrying about what Samantha's meeting with her bosses was about, and whether said meeting would drag on long enough to cause her and Chris to miss the boat that was going to take them on their honeymoon, when he heard a tapping on the front passenger side window of his vehicle. Chris beamed at his beautiful, fat wife as she lowered her large ass into the front passenger seat of his vehicle, and grunted from the effort as she did so. Chris then drew Samantha into a five second kiss,holding her two chins and oval face in his hands as he did so, before the dark-haired man drew back and said. “So, how'd the meeting go?”

Samantha shrugged, causing her large breast and double belly to jiggle as she said. “Well, good news, bad news. The bad news is, I don't have the part for Pacific Islander anymore. It's a really long story, I'll tell you later.”

Chris sighed. “That's too bad! I know how much you wanted that role!”

Samantha shook her head. “Not as bad as I thought I did. Today, I finally discovered there are things I won't do for money or fame. Like I said, I'll tell you more later. The good news, though, is that I'm still going to get paid a lot of money for 'I Love New York', the studio has decided not to sue me for breach of contract for not doing the next film, and...I don't have to lose weight now!”

Chris half-smiled, causing his own double chin to jut out, as he said. “ I don't know how you got a sweet deal like that, but I'm impressed, Samantha! And you mean you don't have to lose weight until your next TV or film role, right?”

Samantha chuckled. “Actually, I've decided that if being an actress means becoming skinny again, that's too high of a price to pay. So, I'm going to change careers! I know we both love being fat, and having a fat spouse, and since you've already promised to always be my chubby hubby, I've decided, I promise, that I”m going to be your fat wife for life!”

“That's wonderful news!” Chris smiled, then patted his wife's double-belly, while his wife did the same to his own spare tire, and the husband and wife kissed passionately for over a minute, holding each others chubby faces, and rubbing each others bellies, as they did so. When the newlyweds finally drew away from each others lips with smiles on their faces, Chris asked: “So, if you don't want to be an actress anymore, at least until Hollywood becomes more fat friendly, what do you want to do for a living?”

Samantha nodded. “Right, we have to talk about that. The Darkassian twins tweeted me last week that their offer for me to a be plus-sized model for their 'Big and Beautiful' collection, is still good. Apparently, they think a famous woman of size like myself would be perfect to sell their new tag line that 'We make fabulous clothes for beautiful women of all sizes!' I know you don't like the Darkassian's reality show, Chris. And personally, I think those two' marketing slogan needs a little work, but the twins are offering to pay me really well! Plus, I think me being a large model would send a good message to larger girls and ladies everywhere, and....”

Chris held up his hands and laughed. “It's okay, Samantha, you don't have to convince me! Being a large model sounds like an excellent way for you to advance you career without sacrificing the lifestyle you love, and I'm all for that!”

Samantha blushed, bringing color to her chubby cheeks and double chin, as her husband openly checked out her fat body, which was pretty much fat all over now, before Chris added. “Besides, at worst, the Darkassian twins are a little annoying, and slightly irresponsible with their personal lives, but after you made me follow them on Twitter for business purposes, I actually find that I don't mind them that much. Thanks to their philanthropist father, a lot of the Darkassian company's profits go to charities and causes that you and I already support, so...Yeah, I think you should work for them. Me having to deal with a few air-headed rants from Jen and Zoe is a small price to pay for you to have an opportunity to make a name for yourself as a model, while making the world a better place at the same time!”

Samantha smiled. “I'm so glad you feel that way, Chris! Just one thing...the position is in New York City. The same town as the headquarters for Timer Inc. So I was thinking, if you wanted to, you could...”

“Take my dad up on his offer to become an executive for the company?” Chris sighed, then nodded. “I'll admit, it would feel weird working that close to my dad on a daily basis, but I already work for his company. And it would be a great opportunity for me. My dad says if I do well as an executive for the company, he'll give me a place on the board of Directors in three years. He's even told me and my mom he was planning to retire in less than five years, and hinted that he wanted me to be CEO one day! It's a great opportunity for me, as long as you don't mind your husband being busy with work a lot.”

Samantha shrugged. “It seems to me, that if we take these new carriers, we will both be pretty busy, Chris. But I'm okay with that, as long as being a corporate executive is what you want to do with your life, just like being a large model is what I want to do with my life, at least for now.”

Chris nodded. “Actually, I think I would like being an executive for Timer Inc, and not just because it's my family's business now. I enjoy working for a company that helps people find true love and happiness and...there's some changes that I would like to make to the company that I could only make as an executive. I would like to make timers more affordable for those who are less well off, for one thing, because even poor people deserve to find their soulmate and...”

Samantha chuckled and interrupted her husband. “It seems like being an executive would agree with you, Chris!”

Chris smiled and nodded. “Yeah. I would have taken that kind of position on at my father's company right after I graduated college, if it hadn't meant moving to New York. But I was still with my ex at the time and....I'm going to stop talking about her now.”

Samantha chuckled. “Good call, hubby. Seeing as we're on our honeymoon right now.”

Chris chuckled back in response. “That we are!” Chris gave Samantha a quick kiss, then added. “But my point is, although I'm glad I decided to stay in LA after graduating from college, because being a simple franchise owner brought you and I together...”

Chris and Samantha smiled at each other, before Chris finished speaking. “I think it's time I took that next step, and became an executive at Timer Inc. now.”

Samantha grinned lecherously at her husband, then said. “Good. But you know, Chris...being an executive is a pretty sedentary life. If you're not careful, you'll be liable to pack on the pounds while snacking in your office and sitting on your fat ass all day!”

Chris grinned right back in kind at his wife, then said. “Wouldn't that be a shame?”

Samantha laughed, then said, “But seriously, Chris. It's so perfect, it's almost cliche! I'm really looking forward to you becoming a corporate 'fat cat'!”

Samantha patted her husband's spare tire, and Chris patted his wife's double belly back as he replied in a teasing tone. “And I'm looking forward to having a trophy, supermodel wife!”

Samantha chuckled. “Don't you think I'm a bit fat to be a trophy wife?”

Chris shook his head and said. “Have you ever been to an awards ceremony? Everyone knows that the best teams and athletes get the biggest trophies! And having a woman as big and beautiful as you as my wife and soulmate tells me that I'm definitely a winner at the game of life!”

Samantha grinned while pulling her husband into another long kiss, during which the newlyweds squeezed each others love handles, right after the fat bride said. “We both are!”

After the deep kiss ended, Chris and Samantha agreed to “save the rest for the cruise”, and Samantha quickly tweeted the Darkassian twins to let them know she was going to accept their offer to model for them after all. The twins tweeted back in thirty seconds, replying that. “We're so glad you decided to become a part of Darkassians Inc.s family! We look forward to welcoming you, our newest big, beautiful sister, at our corporate office in exactly one month's time, at 9AM! Don't be late to the orientation, and don't worry about breakfast that day! A free breakfast buffet will be provided! In the meantime, enjoy your honeymoon!”

Afterwards, Chris called his dad via speakerphone, telling Arnold Bartlett that his son wanted to work for him in New York after all. Samantha also mentioned her own recent career change, citing not wanting to change her lifestyle as one reason for her choice to become a large model. Arnold Bartlett had chuckled then, and said. “Samantha, I'm glad you made the right choice, for yourself, and for Chris, and made sure my good investment paid off!. Like I'm always telling people. , 'A man with a fat wife is bound to have a happy life!” Chris, I'll see you at my office at 9AM in one month's time. Wear a suite, a loose one! Their will be lots of of donuts at the orientation! Oh, and I'm sure your mother will be thrilled to hear you and Samantha are moving to the same city where we live! I know I am. We'll sort out the details in two weeks. I won't hold you two love birds up any longer, except to say that Chris, Samantha, I hope you have an excellent honeymoon!”

Samantha smiled as her father in-law hung up the phone, but Chris frowned. “Samantha, what did my father mean when he said that you made sure his good investment paid off?”

Samantha sighed. “I swear to you, Chris, that I was going to tell you this after the honeymoon, anyway. I just didn't want you to be upset during a time you and I are supposed to be happy, but...Your father told me, at our wedding reception, that he was the mystery investor who kept “I Love New York” from getting scrapped, and bribed me to get fat!”

Chris' eyes widened. “What?”

Samantha nodded. “Your father knew that you liked larger women, so he set me up to get fat as soon as he found out that I was your soulmate! He also encouraged me to stay fat for you yesterday.”

Chris' fists clenched on the steering wheel in front of him. “I'm going to kill him! I'm going to kill my own father for manipulating my wife to....”

Samantha shook her head, then calmly placed her plump hands on top of Chris' chubby ones. “Please don't do that, Chris! I'll admit, I'm not happy about what your dad did, basically forcing me to get fat, or the underhanded way he went about it, but I have to admit....”

Samantha smiled as she patted her double belly with one hand, and bounced her “adipose enhanced” breasts with the other. “I like the results! No matter how it happened, I'm glad that I got fat, because it gave me the chance to see that I love living life in the fat lane! I love being fat, Chris, and I love having a fat spouse! I know you love those things too! Even though I don't like what your dad did, we are both happier because he did it! Plus, we both know your dad only made me get fat because he loves you, and wants you to be happy And I want that, too. That's why I have decided to forgive your father for manipulating me...just this once. So please, Chris. Do a favor for your wife, on our honeymoon, and let this go!”

Chris exhaled loudly, then nodded. “Okay, I can do that. As long you promise me that you really are happy being fat, and you chose to stay fat for yourself, not because you thought that's what I wanted!”

Samantha smiled. “I choose to stay fat because I love eating fast food, your home cooking, and snacks whenever I want! I choose to stay fat because I love my double belly, two chins, and fat ass!” Chris smiled as Samantha shook all of those parts of her body, then said. “I choose to stay fat because I love having a husband that practically worships my body, as well as being in love with my mind and heart....”

Chris shook his head and opened his mouth, but his wife put a plump hand over his mouth, and Samantha continued speaking instead. “I stayed fat for both of us! Because I know we both love me having a fat body, just as much as we both love it that you're a fatty now!”

Samantha squeezed her husband's plump ass and one of his moobs for a second, then said. “I love that we're both fat, Chris! And I'm looking forward to both of us getting much fatter as time goes by! That's why I decided to become a large model instead of staying a movie star, okay!?”

Chris smiled. “Ok.” The man looked at his watch,, then frowned as his stomach growled. “It'll be tight, but I think we have just enough time to eat before we get on the cruise! Can we make a quick stop at King Burger?! I'm really hungry, because we haven't had our second lunch yet!”

Samantha smiled and patted her double belly. “Fuck yes! I'm starving!”

Because the married couple's “quick stop” at King Burger lasted them an hour, during which Chris and Samantha consumed three large burger combos each, then rubbed each others bellies, the newlyweds almost didn't make in on board their cruise ship before it left the dock! In fact, the fat couple arrived for their trip so late that the S.S. Finnow departed 30 minutes late, and many of the other guests on the cruise ship, and some of the crew, glared at Chris and Samantha for being so tardy. Despite this rocky start, however,the rest of the first day of the honeymoon went quite well. As soon as the newly married couple had finished hearing the safety briefing, then put their stuff in their room, Chris and Samantha had a couple drinks on one of the ship's bars. The newlyweds listened to a romantic song they requested from the piano player, then tipped both the musician, and their bartender well, even thought both drinks and entertainment were included with the cruise package Chris' parents had purchased for their son and daughter in-law's honeymoon.

Chris and Samantha had then both changed into what they considered to be “appropriate honeymoon swim attire”: a red bikini for Samantha, and a speedo for Chris, then headed to the pool. Luckily, the pool had a “wet snack buffet” table in the shallow end of the pool so the newlyweds didn't have to choose between swimming or having linner (the meal between second lunch and dinner). The fat couple were all smiles as they floated in front of the stone table in the pool, as Chris and Samantha gorged themselves on soda, as well as chips, cookies, sandwiches, and other finger foods while admiring each others fat bodies. And if some of the other guests gave the obese couple disgusted looks. for showing so much of their fat bodies,, and some of the kitchen stuff gave Chris and Samantha dirty looks, because they had to refill every food item at the wet bar twice in one hour because the newlyweds were eating so much, the honeymooners didn't notice. Chris and Samantha were too busy admiring every inch of each others fleshy, cellulite-coated, stretch-mark laced, bodies to think about anythings else. In that moment, Chris eyes were just as drawn to Samantha's huge ass, double belly, and large tits, as Samantha's eyes were draw to Chris' plump ass, spare tire, and small moobs.

The honeymooners only left the pool when it was time to get ready for dinner, After Chris changed into a gray suit, and Samantha put on a black dress (both of which were just a little snug on the newlyweds' fat bodies). Samantha and Chris wend to the formal dining room to eat their dinner. Dinner included a dozen large crescent rolls (nine for Chris, three for Samantha), as well as a 18 oz. Steak, heavily buttered and salted green beans, and a loaded baked potato for each of the honeymooners. First dessert was a large piece of triple chocolate cake, which Chris had just a bit more of then his wife did..Samantha and Chris also had another two more glasses of wine each, making both of them just slightly tipsy.

Second desert was a more private affair. Chris and Samantha ordered a large tub of ice cream from room service, but they didn't eat it the normal way. Instead, Samantha put a scoop each of the ice cream on her large breasts, then Chris did the same with his moobs, and the couple quickly ate the four scoops off each others bodies. The couple then proceded to make love while eating the rest of the ice cream off of every inch of each others bouncing, jiggling, fat bodies over the next two hours, while belching and farting the whole time, although Chris was able to eat a little more than Samantha was, before the fat, sticky, sweaty couple finally grew too full and exhausted to make love anymore.

However, Chris and Samantha still had plenty of fun rubbing each others bellies after their “erotic eating” session was finished. Then, after the couple shared a long kiss, just before falling asleep in each others plump arms, Chris whispered into his wife's ear. “I have another present for you, my lovely wife! I'm taking appetite enhancers for our honeymoon, because I want to be just as fat and sexy as you! How does that sound!?”

Samantha smiled at her husband, as she thought about how hot it would be for Chris to get as fat as she was now. “That sounds perfect, husband! I would love to have even more of you to love! I love you so much!”

Chris smiled and replied. “I love you, too!”

And as the fat couple fell asleep, absentmindedly rubbing each others fat bellies as they did so: Chris and Samantha knew two things. One: they had never been happier. And two, they were both going to grow much, much fatter during the course of their lives together!

  Deep in their hearts, Chris and Samantha knew they were going to have a long,  happy,  and extremely fattening life together. 

 

And they did.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed the story! Remember, feedback is always appreciated!


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